Milwaukee Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo Suffers Gruesome Injury, Playoff Status Unclear

Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo suffered a gruesome injury in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night. The injury happened with over seven minutes remaining in the third quarter when Antetokounmpo jumped up to defend an alley-oop from John Collins to Clint Capela. He landed awkwardly on his left leg while his knee buckled. Antetokounmpo is set to have imaging done on Wednesday, according to ESPN.

"It just looked like their legs got tangled up," Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said after the game. "They both landed awkwardly. That's what I saw live. I haven't seen anything else." The injury is being called a hyperextended left knee, but Bucks officials are worried that Antetokounmpo suffered a serious ACL injury. If that's the case, he could miss the rest of the postseason.

In the NBA, Giannis Antetokounmpo off with knee hyperextension injury. Unfortunately brings many possibilities.
Best case: bone bruise, PCL/capsular sprain
Worst case: ACL injury
Hope for best case but concerned w significant hyperextension movement. 🤞🤞pic.twitter.com/6DYIDcY5SG

— NRL PHYSIO (@nrlphysio) June 30, 2021

And that's not a good thing for the Bucks, who are now tied with the Hawks 2-2 in the series after losing Game 4 110-88. When Antetokounmpo left the game, the Hawks had a 10-point lead and went on a 15-0 run moments later. Both teams just need two more wins to advance to the NBA Finals.

"We just thought we were going to walk in and win the game," P.J. Tucker said. "We didn't do anything to show that we wanted to win this game tonight. We were flat, and our guy's injury was just another piece of the puzzle to us losing." Antetokounmpo is one of the best players in the NBA. He's a two-time winner of the NBA MVP award and won Defensive Player of the Year in 2020. This past season, Antetokounmpo averaged 28.1 points, 11 rebounds and 5.9 assists per game.

The Hawks were dealing with injuries as well. Superstar point guard Trae Young was out due to a bone bruise in his ankle in Game 3 and didn't play Tuesday night. And like Antetokounmpo, the Hawks are not sure if Young will be ready to go in Game 5.

"I don't know," Hawks coach Nate McMillan said. "The report was just tonight he's out. He didn't feel comfortable enough to put pressure on his foot tonight. I'll get a report tomorrow, and I'm sure it'll be a game-time decision."