{"id":124914,"date":"2025-02-21T06:00:06","date_gmt":"2025-02-21T11:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=124914"},"modified":"2025-02-21T00:33:09","modified_gmt":"2025-02-21T05:33:09","slug":"bobby-portis-suspension-kuzma-step-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/02\/21\/bobby-portis-suspension-kuzma-step-up\/","title":{"rendered":"After Bobby Portis’ Suspension, This Player Must Step Up"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a huge blow for the Milwaukee Bucks. Bobby Portis Jr.<\/a> has been <\/span>suspended for 25 games<\/span><\/a> after violating the NBA\u2019s anti-drug policy by taking the drug Tramadol. This news comes as the Bucks are fighting their way back toward the top of the Eastern Conference standings after a slow start to the season. Portis, a key part of the Bucks rotation, will now miss most of the rest of the season. Let\u2019s look at Portis’ suspension<\/a><\/span>\u00a0and one key player who will need to step up in his absence.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After Bobby Portis’ Suspension, This Player Must Step Up<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Bobby Portis Suspended for Tramadol<\/strong><\/h3>\n

They are saying it was just an honest mistake. Supposedly,<\/span> Portis took Tramadol unintentionally<\/span><\/a>. He was dealing with an elbow injury and thought that he was using the NBA-approved Toradol. On accident, he ended up taking Tramadol, which he was prescribed but is on the list of banned substances by the NBA.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Portis put out a statement saying, <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was dealing with an elbow injury and using an NBA-approved medication for pain and inflammation. During that time, I made an honest mistake and took a pain-reducing anti-inflammatory pill that is not approved. I feel horrible and recognize that I\u2019m responsible for what I put in my body.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It sounds like an honest mistake, but it will be a costly one. Portis is averaging 13.7 points and 8.3 rebounds this season for the Bucks, on 46.3% shooting from the field and 36.4% from three. He has been a key part of the Bucks\u2019 offense and identity since landing in Milwaukee in 2020.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Kyle Kuzma\u2019s Time to Shine<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Bucks are certainly going to have to adjust to a Portis-less rest of the season. However, they recently acquired Kyle Kuzma<\/a> in a trade with the Washington Wizards<\/a>, and he is a perfect candidate to take on more responsibility. Kuzma had been wasting away on the Wizards while they tanked and was extremely excited to get an opportunity to play on a team that was trying to contend.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Portis’ suspension, however, throws Kuzma in the deep end quickly. Not only has Kuzma not needed to play important basketball for years, but he is now all of a sudden needed as an essential piece in Milwaukee.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Kuzma\u2019s Slow Start in Milwaukee<\/strong><\/h3>\n

It may take some time for Kuzma to get comfortable in a new system. He hasn\u2019t played with other superstars since his time playing with LeBron James<\/a> and Anthony Davis<\/a> on the Lakers. He had a great season last year. Kuzma was averaging 22.2 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 4.2 assists per game but has fallen off a cliff this year. Kuzma averaged 15.2 points while shooting a dismal 28.1 % from three this year for the Wizards.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

His start in a Bucks uniform hasn\u2019t been that much more impressive. He has only cracked the 20-point mark once in his first five games and is 7-for-25 from three. A new player on a new team certainly should get some grace to adjust, but with the Bobby Portis suspension, Kuzma is going to have to learn fast.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Photo credit: \u00a9 Brett Davis-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is a huge blow for the Milwaukee Bucks. Bobby Portis Jr. has been suspended for 25 games after violating the NBA\u2019s anti-drug policy by taking the drug Tramadol. This news comes as the Bucks are fighting their way back toward the top of the Eastern Conference standings after a slow start to the season. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5284,"featured_media":124922,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,15,62,3],"tags":[1255,1128],"class_list":["post-124914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-bucks","category-nba","category-news","tag-bobby-portis","tag-kyle-kuzma"],"modified_by":"Eamon Cassels, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5284"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124914"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124914\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":124923,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124914\/revisions\/124923"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}