Milwaukee Bucks forward Khris Middleton, who had two ankle surgeries during the offseason, will miss Wednesday's season opener against the Philadelphia 76ers, ESPN's Shams Charania reported Monday. On Saturday, Bucks coach Doc Rivers said that Middleton had not yet advanced to playing 5-on-5, but still had a chance to play against Philadelphia, per The Athletic's Eric Nehm.
Middleton, 33, injured his left ankle last February and missed more than a month afterward. He then injured his right ankle in Game 2 of Milwaukee's first-round series against the Indiana Pacers, but continued to play.
In 2023-24, Middleton appeared in 55 regular-season games. In the preceding season, he appeared in 33 regular-season games. He had surgery to repair a torn ligament in his wrist in the 2022 offseason and had knee surgery in the 2023 offseason.
During Milwaukee's training camp, Middleton told The Athletic that he is aiming to be available for the vast majority of the 2024-25 season.
"Having a successful season out there is playing damn near 82 games," Middleton said. "Understanding that there may be a couple games where you can't go because you got kneed to the thigh or something like a bad ankle sprain, those types of things, you miss one or two games. But not playing only 60 games. Anything below 70, 75 games, no, I do not consider that a successful season for me."
The three-time All-Star had a few huge games in that Pacers series, and the Bucks were excellent when they had their full starting lineup, Middleton included, on the court last season. Ideally, once Middleton is ready to go, he will have better luck staying on the court this time around.
