Commence Panicking: Giannis Enters NBA’s Health and Safety Protocols

Commence the wailing and gnashing of teeth, everyone.

The Milwaukee Bucks have released an injury report, and Giannis Antetokounmpo has entered the league’s health and safety protocols. Honestly, this was inevitable, given how the NBA has forged ahead during the COVID-19 pandemic and thousands of people are gathered night after night into a closed, indoor space. But precautions were taken, vaccines are widely available in the US (go get your shot, if you can!), and Giannis himself has taken the right steps to stay protected, so it’s reasonable to hope that Giannis won’t be dealing with anything other than extended downtime.

In other news, Khris Middleton left yesterday’s game with a somewhat-scary knee hyperextension, but he’s listed as “questionable” and therefore has escaped any sort of major injury. Reason for celebration!

Giannis’ sudden unavailability will keep him out for a while (a positive test brings with it a 10 day quarantine), but the Bucks’ upcoming schedule is thankfully not terribly challenging. They’re still likely to lose more games without him than with him, but this ought not totally torpedo the team’s playoff seeding by itself. Giannis will probably still not be back before the Christmas Day game against Boston, so the Bucks’ depth will get fully tested with Brook Lopez out indefinitely and Khris’ knee still keeping him under the watchful eye of the training staff.

In any case, get well soon, everybody. Hopefully we can get through this by New Year’s and leave it all behind in 2022.