Milwaukee Bucks guard Khris Middleton will be limited as training camp starts, still recovering from offseason surgery on both ankles, coach Doc Rivers said Monday.
Middleton, 33, will start camp in Irvine, Calif., sitting out five-on-five work initially, Rivers said.
“He’ll participate in camp,” Rivers said. “We won’t have him doing a lot of live action coming off the surgery and all that. But all our skeleton work, our transition work, transition D, our conditioning work, he’ll be on the floor with us.
“He looks great. He’s in the gym right now as we speak working out. He’s had a terrific summer overall. Physically, he’s fit and that’s something he probably hasn’t been able to say in a while. And feels great. So we want to keep it that way.”.
It was revealed in July that Middleton, a three-time All-Star, had undergone arthroscopic surgery. He told reporters Monday that all is well. Middleton sprained his left ankle in a game in February and the right one in the Bucks’ first-round playoff defeat against the Indiana Pacers.
“After I took some weeks off, I just realized they weren’t healing the way I thought they should,” Middleton said. “(I) went to get it checked and just realized it needed the clean-up process to get ready for this coming season.”
He said he is feeling well.
“Feel great, I’ll leave it at that,” Middleton said. “Ready for training camp. Ready for the season.”
Middleton was limited to 55 regular-season games last season after he appeared in only 33 contests in 2022-23. He averaged 15.1 points, 5.3 assists and 4.7 rebounds in 2023-24.
Through 12 seasons, Middleton has career averages of 16.9 points, 4.8 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.2 steals in 739 games (650 starts) with the Detroit Pistons (2012-13) and Bucks.
Detroit drafted Middleton in the second round (39th overall) in 2012. Traded to Milwaukee in July 2013, he helped the Bucks win the NBA championship in 2020-21.
The Bucks open the 2024-25 season Oct. 23 on the road against the Philadelphia 76ers.
–Field Level Media