Giannis Antetokounmpo Out Tonight For Milwaukee Bucks

MILWAUKEE, WI — The Milwaukee Bucks will be without their best player, Giannis Antetokounmpo, tonight as the team goes for their 16th-straight victory.

The Bucks will play the New Orleans Pelicans in a game that will be broadcast to a nationwide audience on ESPN. The game is set to tip off at 8:30 p.m. at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.

The Bucks say that Antetokounmpo is dealing with quad tendon soreness.

The quadriceps tendon attaches the quadriceps muscles to the patella, and is one of the muscles that straightens the knee. The quadriceps is a group of muscles located in the front of the thigh. The patella is more commonly known as the kneecap.

Coming off an MVP season, Antetokounmpo is enjoying another MVP-level season. In 24 games so far this season, the talented forward known as The Greek Freak or The Alphabet (thanks, Ted Davis), is averaging 30.9 points per game, is hauling in 13.2 rebounds per game on average, and is dishing out 5.5 assists per game.

The summer of 2020 is one of great intrigue for Bucks fans and team officials. That's because Antetokounmpo will have one year remaining on his contract next summer. At that time, he will be eligible for a "supermax" contract, which would give him a salary worth up to 35 percent of the team's salary cap. It could amount to the richest contract in NBA history.

Because Antetokounmpo will still be under contract with the Bucks, the team will be the only one who can offer that "supermax" contract. One estimate puts that contract in the range of five years, $247 million.