Giannis Antetokounmpo out with illness vs. Washington Wizards

Milwaukee Bucks head coach Jason Kidd said star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo would be unavailable for Sunday afternoon’s game because of an illness.

The Milwaukee Bucks are quickly becoming one of the better watches in the NBA this season. That is largely because point forward Giannis Antetokounmpo is becoming a superstar in his fourth season in the NBA.

Antetokounmpo feels like a runaway favorite to win Most Improved Player and likely to make his first trip to the NBA All-Star Game. That being said, he will reportedly miss his first game of the season for the 2016-17 Bucks.

According to C.F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Bucks head coach Jason Kidd stated during the pre-game that Antetokounmpo would be unavailable for Sunday afternoon’s home game against the Washington Wizards. Antetokounmpo is dealing with an illness.

Gardner said that Bucks point guard Matthew Dellavedova would be restricted to 20 minutes coming off the bench in this game. He would speculate that Antetokounmpo’s absence and Dellavedova’s minutes restrictions would mean more playing time for forwards Michael Beasley and Mirza Teletovic.

Milwaukee enters play on Sunday afternoon in seventh place in the Eastern Conference. Washington is surging, now in ninth place in the Eastern Conference. These two teams have played a bunch since early December, so Kidd knows how to defend Washington star point guard John Wall.

Next: Which NBA players can help you survive the zombie apocalypse?

That being said, Antetokounmpo’s absence could be devastating for the Bucks’ chances to win this crucial home game. Milwaukee is only one game better than the Wizards in the Eastern Conference standings. Fourth place to 11th place in the East is only separated by 4.5 games at this point of the 2016-17 NBA season.