Jabari Parker to miss Bucks road trip with mid-foot sprain

A three-game road set for the Milwaukee Bucks begins tomorrow evening, but they'll be without one of their prized possessions.

The Bucks announced Monday afternoon that Jabari Parker will not accompany the team when they visit Washington, Cleveland and Indiana this week after an MRI revealed a mid-foot (talonavicular joint) sprain. Parker underwent the scan this morning after reporting discomfort in his right foot and will undergo additional testing today. Parker fractured the same foot in July 2012 before his senior of high school, though there's been no suggestion thus far that the two injuries are related. Either way, any foot injury is a major concern for player the Bucks are counting on -- both to provide an offensive boost this season and as a key building block in the long term.

Parker recorded season-highs in points (12) and minutes (30) this past Saturday in the Bucks' 108-105 victory in double-overtime against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Before the game, Bucks head coach Jason Kidd noted that the plan was to build Parker's minutes from 25 to that mark.

"We'll keep it around 25 and we'll build it up and see how the week goes." Kidd said. "Hopefully we can get him up to 30."

Parker missed the first four games of the Bucks' season while still recovering from a torn ACL in his left knee that forced him to miss the final 57 games of the 2014-15 season. In five games, he's averaged 7.2 points along with 3.6 rebounds in 22.4 minutes per game.

Parker's absence will presumably require Kidd to lean more heavily on Johnny O'Bryant, though JOB is hardly the only guy that Kidd can turn to with Parker sidelined yet again. Giannis Antetokounmpo will likely see more minutes at the 4, Kidd could go big with John Henson or Miles Plumlee playing next to Greg Monroe -- something we saw for the first time on Saturday -- and Damien Inglis and Chris Copeland could also get another shot at rotation minutes.