Giannis Antetokounmpo was listed as doubtful for Game 1 against the Suns, hours after appearing briefly on the court Monday afternoon at Phoenix Suns Arena as the Milwaukee Bucks started to warm up in their first practice for the NBA Finals, during a portion open to the media.
The two-time league Most Valuable Player injured his left knee in Atlanta on June 29 and missed the final two games of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Hawks.
Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer would not commit to much on Monday afternoon.
“We’ll continue to update it,” Budenholzer said. “He’s had a good day. He’s making good progress. But I don’t have expectations either way.”
The head coach acknowledged Antetokounmpo would get on the court and walk through some parts of the game plan but wouldn’t elaborate beyond that.
“I’m just going to leave it,” Budenholzer said. “He did court work. So he’s making progress and we’re pleased that he’s making progress.”
Giannis was listed as doubtful by the team later Monday.
As for the Suns, they were able to get a look at how this version of the Bucks played without Antetokounmpo.
During the regular season, the Bucks had starting guard Donte DiVincenzo for most of the games Antetokounmpo missed with a March knee injury and P.J. Tucker missed many of them with an injury of his own.