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Picture Credit: NBA

Milwaukee Bucks forward/guard Khris Middleton will be out of the second-round playoff series against the Boston Celtics starting on 2 May 2022. The news was reported by NBA insider Shams Charnia who reported that Middleton is diagnosed with a Grade 2 sprain and will miss the next round and could also be out of the Conference finals. 

Charania’s teet tweeted, “The left MCL injury of Bucks All-Star Khris Middleton is a Grade 2 sprain and he is expected to miss the entire second-round series vs. Celtics, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. The recovery of Grade 2 MCL places a potential Conference Finals in jeopardy for him as well.” Reports also suggest that  Middleton “will receive daily treatment and evaluation.”

Middleton injured his left knee with 6:49 minutes left in the fourth quarter of Game 2. The Cream City lost that game allowing the Bulls to level the series. The 30-year-old was seen to slip in the paint and then after the game, Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer later revealed that Middleton was believed to suffer an MCL sprain.

In the post-match press conference after game 5, Bucks’ all-star forward and former MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo discussed how the team has come together and is ready to take on the Celtics in the next round. He said, “After Game 2, we kind of talked about how we know what the deal was.”

“The team knew what the deal was. We knew what we had to do. We had to be desperate. We had to go out there and compete at a high level, pay attention to detail as much as possible, and help one another defensively. We've got to do it as a team.”

Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer also talked about his team’s depth with good players across positions. He said, “We've been talking about the depth of the roster, the quality of the roster a lot this season. Other guys have gotten opportunities and played well. Our defence has tightened up, and we've leaned hard on that these three games. We've got depth. We've got a good group.”

So far in the 2021-2 NBA season,  Khris Middleton averaged 20.1 points with 5.4 assists and 5.4 rebounds. Whereas in the playoff, he averaged just 14.5 points with 5.0 rebounds and 7.0 assists.