Giannis Antetokounmpo will miss the Milwaukee Bucks‘ game Sunday against the Atlanta Hawks because of a right ankle sprain.
Antetokounmpo aggravated the ankle injury after scoring 34 points in the Bucks’ 128-118 win over the LA Clippers on Thursday night. He left the game midway through the fourth quarter and did not return.
Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer told reporters Sunday that there is a good chance that Antetokounmpo plays on Milwaukee’s three-game road trip. The Bucks play Monday in Brooklyn and Thursday in Philadelphia.
The decision to rest Antetokounmpo came with the Bucks close to securing home-court advantage throughout the playoffs. Milwaukee entered Sunday 3½ games ahead of the Toronto Raptors in the race for the top spot in the Eastern Conference.
Antetokounmpo, who is averaging 27.4 points per game, has missed two games since suffering the injury March 17 against the 76ers. He said Thursday that he never felt fully recovered from the initial sprain.
“Usually when you sprain your ankle, you tweak your ankle, you stay out for two, three, four games,” Antetokounmpo said. “But I don’t like missing games, so I have to work through it while playing and try to get my strength with our practices.”
ESPN’s Malika Andrews and The Associated Press contributed to this report.