Antetokounmpo going to New York for wrist exam

SALT LAKECITY (AP) — Milwaukee star Giannis Antetokounmpo was scheduled tobe in New York on Monday to undergo testing and get furtherevaluation on his injured right wrist, according to a person withknowledge of the matter.

The personspoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Sundaynight because neither the Bucks nor Antetokounmpo released theplans publicly.

ESPN firstreported that Antetokounmpo was going to New York, and it was laterconfirmed by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Antetokounmpoinjured his wrist Thursday night in Chicago after attempting toblock a shot. Antetokounmpo exited after only nine minutes and didnot return. He had X-rays and Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said atthe time they came back clean.

But thereevidently has not been much improvement in the wrist since.Antetokounmpo did not join his brothers as planned for the All-StarSkills Challenge on Saturday night in Utah — he was filled in forthere by Bucks teammate and fellow All-Star Jrue Holiday.

And he playedonly 20 seconds in his team’s victory over Team LeBron in theAll-Star Game on Sunday night, getting a dunk on the firstpossession, then taking a foul and heading to the bench tobasically become a coach for the rest of the night.

“Taking itday by day, try to get healthy,” Antetokounmpo said after the game.“You know, obviously I had the incident three days ago. I don’tthink it’s smart in any way to, you know, play a lot of minutes inthe All-Star Game. At the end of the day, obviously, you want toparticipate, you want to run up and down, joke around, have somedunks, create some work. But at the end of the day, I feel you alsohave to be mature.”

He did notgive any hint that the wrist issue is more serious than asprain.

“Hopefully, Ican, you know, be available for my team when they need me,”Antetokounmpo said.

Milwaukee hasthe NBA’s second-best record coming out of the All-Star break at41-17, a half-game behind Boston in the Eastern Conference.

Antetokounmpois third in the NBA in scoring at 31.8 points per game, behind onlyDallas’ Luka Doncic (33.3) and Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid(33.1).