Up until about a week ago, all was well and good for the first place Milwaukee Bucks, who were cruising through the regular season as one of the healthier teams in all of basketball. That all changed when Malcolm Brogdon went down with a minor plantar fascia tear in his right foot, which will sideline him for the next six to eight weeks. With only 10 games left in the regular season, it means the former rookie of the year will be out for the rest of the regular season and part of the playoffs.
When watching the Milwaukee Bucks, it’s impossible not to notice what Giannis Antetokounmpo does on a nightly basis along with other guys like Eric Bledsoe and Brook Lopez. They are the flash and flare that make the Bucks one of the most exciting teams to watch this season. One guy that you may not notice too often, but is arguably the second or third most important player on the floor, is Brogdon, the do-it-all guard who will become the newest member of the exclusive 50-40-90 club. He doesn’t wow you with crazy highlights every night, but he does everything from making plays for others to knocking down open shots and being an elite lockdown defender.
It’s no accident that the Bucks have been at the top of the standings all season long and are in no position to worry at this point in time. They have done a great job preparing themselves for such an occurrence by bulking up their roster. They brought in veteran guard George Hill before Christmas and added an elite shooter and defender in Nikola Mirotic before the trade deadline. Despite missing some action as of late, Hill has begun to work himself back into the rotation at the right time, which should help supplant the Brogdon injury a little bit. Mirotic, on the other hand, has suffered a minor setback. The team announced prior to their loss Wednesday night to the Cavaliers that the 6’10” stretch forward will miss two to four weeks with a fractured left thumb. The good news is that it’s on his non-shooting hand and he could be back in time for the playoffs.
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Milwaukee’s front line is still in decent shape with Ersan Ilyasova set to get extra minutes along with their most recent acquisition of two-time NBA Champion and 17-year veteran Pau Gasol. However, with Brogdon’s long timetable and nagging injuries to Sterling Brown and rookie Donte DiVincenzo, Milwaukee’s backcourt depth had become a little vulnerable and forced them to make an unpopular move that could haunt them in the future.
While he hadn’t been a fixture on the main roster yet, center Christian Wood was the most intriguing prospect within the Bucks organization and was putting up monster numbers for the G-League Wisconsin Herd. But when you are in win-now mode, sacrifices must be made, and Wood was released to make a roster spot for point guard Tim Frazier, who makes his second stint with Milwaukee after being released in preseason. The 28-year-old Frazier had been with the New Orleans Pelicans this season playing in 47 games with 17 starts. Wood didn’t waste any time finding a new squad as he ironically signed with the Pelicans to finish the season.
No Time to Panic
Malcolm Brogdon and Nikola Mirotic are important pieces to the upcoming playoff push, but in no way should this team panic. They still have a hold on the number one seed in the East by two games over the Toronto Raptors with the MVP frontrunner Giannis Antetokounmpo leading them along with All-Star Khris Middleton and the tough-nosed Eric Bledsoe making plays. Seven of their remaining 10 games come at the Fiserv Forum, where they have amassed an impressive 28-6 record in the building’s inaugural season.
Brogdon’s injury will be a big test to the rest of the group, but they are built to withstand this type of adversity. Milwaukee has bigger goals in mind and it starts with getting out of the first round. Once they do, they will get back to full strength once again and this will all be remembered as one small hurdle towards a championship run.
