2 min read • December 15, 2021
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Bucks 2-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo tested positive for COVID-19 and was placed in the NBA's health and safety protocols on Tuesday, according to The Athletic's Shams Charania.
The 27-year-old defending Finals MVP is the 2nd Milwaukee player in protocols currently, along with Wesley Matthews, and the 34th NBA player out with COVID. In the last 6 days alone, there have been 25 positive tests, with more likely to come. With only 11 days until Christmas, the NBA's marquee day and the unofficial beginning of the NBA season, the league may be incentivized to postpone more games to ensure stars such as Antetokoumpo and James Harden can recover, and stars with close contacts, incl. Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Jayson Tatum, are kept healthy. Per protocols, unless a player posts 2 negative PCR tests over 24 hours apart, they have to be held out for at least 10 days and can only return when they are symptom-free and cleared by a team doctor. The league is preparing to update its guidelines to push players to get COVID-19 booster shots.
The Bucks, at 18-11 and 3rd in the East, will be without Khris Middleton for a couple of weeks as he recovers from a hyperextended left knee and subsequent bone bruise that he suffered Monday night.
Antetokounmpo is averaging 27 points with 11.6 rebounds and 5.8 assists in 26 games and has the 3rd-highest odds to win MVP this season at +650, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.
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