MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo is bracing to miss several weeks after suffering a right calf injury in the closing seconds of his team’s 102-100 loss against the Denver Nuggets.
“Probably the next steps will be, go to (an) MRI tomorrow. After the MRI, they’ll tell me, probably, I popped something in my calf, in my soleus, something. They’ll probably give me a protocol of 4-6 weeks that I’ll be out,” Antetokounmpo told reporters. “This is from my experience being around the NBA.”
As the Bucks made their way up the floor for an offensive possession before calling a timeout with 34.2 seconds left, Antetokounmpo stuck around halfcourt and reached towards his lower right leg. He then limped towards the Bucks bench, took a seat during the timeout and proceeded to walk back to the locker room. He eventually returned to the Bucks’ bench but did not return to the game.
“I thought he was favoring it for most of the second half, personally,” Bucks coach Doc Rivers said after the game. “I asked our team five different times. I didn’t like what my eyes were seeing, personally. Giannis was defiant about staying in.”
“On that (last) play, you could see him trying to run down the floor. To me, I had had enough. I didn’t ask. I just took him out. He actually wanted to go back in. That was a no for me.”
Denver, which led by 23 points early in the fourth quarter, held on for the win when Kyle Kuzma’s game-winning attempt from just inside halfcourt fell short at the buzzer. The Bucks have now lost six of their last eight games and fallen to 18-26 on the season.
Giannis Antetokounmpo left the game after suffering an apparent lower leg injury.
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) January 24, 2026
While Antetokounmpo’s injury will overshadow the result, this was another poor effort from the Bucks, who have stacked up those types of losses recently. As questions about Antetokounmpo’s long-term future in Milwaukee have intensified, the Bucks have lost five of their last six games, including defeats to the Minnesota Timberwolves, San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder in which the Bucks trailed by at least 25 points at one point in the game. On Wednesday, Antetokounmpo called out his teammates for being “selfish” and questioned his team’s chemistry.
“We’re not playing hard, not doing the right things,” Antetokounmpo said after the Bucks’ loss to the Thunder. “We’re not playing to win. Not playing together. Our chemistry’s not there. Guys are being selfish. Guys are trying to look for their own shots instead of looking for the right shot for the team. Guys trying to do it on their own. At times, I feel like when we’re down 10, down 15, down 30, we try to make it up in one play. It is not gonna work. We just gotta keep on chipping away, possession by possession.”
Denver, the Bucks’ opponent on Friday, was on the second night of a back-to-back. Five of its six most important players — Nikola Jokić, Jamal Murray, Christian Braun, Peyton Watson and Cameron Johnson — did not play due to injury. The sixth, Aaron Gordon, didn’t play a second in the second half after reinjuring his hamstring just before halftime.
Antetokounmpo put up 22 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists in 32 minutes but was grimacing throughout the game. Before returning to the floor in the second quarter, Antetokounmpo skipped onto the court. He also did lane slides during a teammate’s free throws to test his leg out.
Milwaukee’s star center came back on the floor early in the fourth quarter and tried to help the Bucks make a late push. After trailing by 20 points when Antetokounmpo entered the game with 11:08 left in the fourth quarter, Milwaukee cut the Nuggets’ lead to two but couldn’t finish the comeback with a last-second shot. Antetokounmpo pushed through his minutes limit (30-31) to finish the game, but was laboring on his way to the bench when Rivers took a timeout with 34.2 seconds remaining.
The Bucks remain in 11th place in the Eastern Conference, the same place they have been since Dec. 17. They are 2 1/2 games behind the 10th-place Atlanta Hawks (22-25).