{"id":180665,"date":"2026-03-10T09:57:41","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T13:57:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=180665"},"modified":"2026-03-10T09:57:41","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T13:57:41","slug":"bucks-getting-healthy-for-stretch-run-as-veteran-forward-surprisingly-nearing-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2026\/03\/10\/bucks-getting-healthy-for-stretch-run-as-veteran-forward-surprisingly-nearing-return\/","title":{"rendered":"Bucks Getting Healthy For Stretch Run As Veteran Forward Surprisingly Nearing Return"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Milwaukee Bucks<\/a> have had a miserable season. Still, the Bucks have an opportunity to secure a spot in the Eastern Conference Play-In Tournament as they could be as healthy as they have been since opening night.<\/p>\n

Bucks Getting Healthy For Stretch Run As Veteran Forward Surprisingly Could Make His Return<\/h2>\n

Milwaukee sits in 11th place in the Eastern Conference<\/a>, four games behind 10th-place Charlotte<\/a>, with a 27-36 record. However, the Bucks have lost four of five as they close out a five-game homestand versus the Phoenix Suns<\/a>. The Bucks are coming off a 130-91 blowout loss to the Orlando Magic<\/a> on Sunday, with Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a> sitting out the second game of a back-to-back. It was his 16th absence in the Bucks’ last 19 contests and 30th missed game of the season.<\/p>\n

While injuries are a major reason for Milwaukee’s struggles, it is not the only reason the Bucks will likely miss the playoffs for the first time in 10 seasons. The Bucks rank in the bottom third of the league in both offensive and defensive efficiency. The Bucks have shot the ball well, ranking third in the NBA in effective field goal percentage, though they rank 28th in scoring at 111. points a game. They are the NBA’s worst offensive rebounding squad, don’t get to the free-throw line, and play at the seventh-slowest pace.<\/p>\n

Defensively, the Bucks<\/a> struggle to defend the 3-point line, with opponents connecting on 14.5 3-pointers per game at 36.7%. The Bucks are also the seventh-worst at defending the rim and don’t force many turnovers. Additionally, they have the sixth-worst scoring margin at -4.7 and are just 11-27 against teams with a .500+ record.\u00a0 Per Tankathon<\/a>, the Bucks have the 11th-easiest remaining schedule.<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Benny Sieu<\/a>, Imagn Images<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p><\/h3>\n

Giannis Antetokounmpo Not On Bucks Injury Reported and Taurean Prince Expected To Play Again This Season<\/h3>\n

Prince has been out since early November as he\u00a0<\/span>underwent\u00a0surgery\u00a0to address a\u00a0<\/span>herniated disk\u00a0in his neck in the middle of the month.\u00a0 The Bucks were granted a disabled player exception for Prince’s injury as NBA doctors determined he was more likely than not to be out through June 15.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Eric Nehm of The Athletic<\/a> reported yesterday that Prince has been working out regularly on the court after practices and before games since he returned to the team following the surgery.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Taurean Prince last played on Nov. 4 against the Toronto Raptors (eighth game of the season) and underwent surgery on his neck on Nov. 13,” Nehm tweeted. “He has been a constant fixture on the floor after practices and before games, working out on the floor since returning from that surgery.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Milwaukee has four players on their injury report for tonight’s game against Phoenix. Antetokounmpo isn’t one of the four. The Bucks are 16-17 in games that Antetokounmpo has played. Without the Greek Freak, the Bucks average three fewer points per game and allow five to six more per game.<\/p>\n

Even better news, Taurean Prince<\/a> is expected to play again this year.\u00a0Prince could return to the court against the Suns as he has been upgraded to questionable.<\/a> Now that doesn’t mean that the 31-year-old will suit up against the Suns, will have to wait and see. A final determination will likely come as it gets closer to the 8:00 p.m. tipoff (ET).<\/p>\n

Kevin Porter Jr. Out Again<\/h3>\n

Prince is known for his “3-an-D” ability. He averages 6.1 points, on 44.7% shooting and 42.9% from the 3-point line, along with 1.6 rebounds in 21 minutes this year. He is expected to come off the bench when he returns and probably see around 15-20 minutes per contest. If the 6-6 forward doesn’t play tonight, his next opportunity will be Thursday in Miami.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s plenty of ppl you could easily count out, but I\u2019m not one of them,” Prince said in a November 10th retreat tweet yesterday.<\/a> “All I did was finish a chapter in the book to start the next one. It is what it is, and it will never be what it\u2019s not. Be back soon, love!”<\/span><\/p>\n

While Prince could return, Kevin Porter Jr.<\/a> will miss his fourth consecutive game due to right knee inflammation. Porter Jr. is having a career season, though the 25-year-old has only played in 33 games this year. His next opportunity is Thursday against the Heat.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Alex Antetokounmpo<\/a> and Cormac Ryan<\/a> are also listed out for tonight’s affair. The pair is not injured; rather, they are on a G-League assignment with the Wisconsin Herd.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Milwaukee Bucks have had a miserable season. Still, the Bucks have an opportunity to secure a spot in the Eastern Conference Play-In Tournament as they could be as healthy as they have been since opening night. Bucks Getting Healthy For Stretch Run As Veteran Forward Surprisingly Could Make His Return Milwaukee sits in 11th […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3146,"featured_media":180673,"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":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,2,15,62,3,28],"tags":[306,1958,4745,1383],"class_list":["post-180665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-featured","category-bucks","category-nba","category-news","category-suns","tag-giannis-antetokounmpo","tag-kevin-porter-jr","tag-nba-injuries","tag-taurean-prince"],"modified_by":"Daniel Benjamin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180665","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\/3146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180665"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180665\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":180676,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180665\/revisions\/180676"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}