What happened to Giannis Antetokounmpo? Looking at former NBA champion's latest injury update

Giannis Antetokounmpo recently had an arthroscopic procedure in his left knee and his participation in the FIBA World Cup with the Greek national team is in jeopardy.

Antonis Kalkavouras from Gazzetta.gr reported that Antetokounmpo had the procedure a couple of weeks ago in New York and has now entered the rehabilitation stage.

This is not a serious problem for the two-time NBA MVP and 2021 NBA champion with the Milwaukee Bucks. But, it may take a few weeks for him to fully recover, putting his participation in the upcoming World Cup at risk.

The Bucks don't want the "Greek Freak" to take any risks as he is the undisputed leader and the one who could bring Milwaukee back to the top. Giannis Antetokounmpo will make his final decision in the coming weeks, but it's entirely up to him to decide whether he will play or not.

If Giannis is out, it will be a major upset for a Greek national team that was looking for a deep run in the tournament. The Greeks will travel to the Philippines' capital, Manila, to take on Team USA, Jordan and New Zealand.

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This season, Giannis averaged 31.1 points, 11.8 rebounds and 5.7 assists per game over 63 appearances for the Bucks.

Giannis Antetokounmpo was attempting a second straight run with Greece in international competition, after leading the Greeks to the fifth place in the 2022 FIBA EuroBasket. He has played for the national team in the 2014 and 2019 World Cup and the 2015 EuroBasket.

As per the FIBA-NBA agreement, if he is not fit, he can’t take any chances to play in the tournament and risk to re-aggravate the injury.

Giannis Antetokounmpo has to protect his knee to be fully healthy for the 2023/24 NBA season

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Ever since he joined the NBA a decade ago, Giannis Antetokounmpo has been dealing with injuries, mostly to his knees.

The long history of knee injury has the Bucks concerned on how his participation in a competitive tournament like the FIFA World Cup could affect his status for the coming season.

Last year, he missed 19 games with injuries, with the Bucks going 11-8 during that stretch. It has been the fourth straight year that the Greek Freak played under 70 games.

In the playoffs, he missed a couple of games with a lower back contusion and his absence cost the Bucks a deep playoff run. Antetokounmpo returned to the lineup for games 4 and 5, but his return didn't prevent the Bucks from losing to the Miami Heat in five games (4-1). The Heat reached the NBA Finals, but lost to the eventual champions Denver Nuggets in five games (4-1).

Thanks to Antetokounmpo's brilliance, the Bucks finished with the best record in the NBA at 58-24.

The knee procedure doesn't appear to affect Giannis Antetokounmpo's status for the 2023-24 NBA season. However, if he joins Greece for the World Cup, it is more than likely that the Bucks will be forced to manage his minutes during the start of the season to limit the chance of missing multiple games for another season.