The Milwaukee Bucks made a few moves prior to the trade deadline to bolster the team’s depth, most notably bringing in Kyle Kuzma, Kevin Porter Jr., and Jericho Sims — all of whom have infused the team with the sort of athleticism, energy, and pace that the aging squad was sorely lacking. However, heading into the Bucks’ Tuesday night contest against the Golden State Warriors, they were hit by a major injury blow, with Sims undergoing surgery to repair a torn ligament in his right thumb.
Sims, as a result of this surgery, will be out for approximately the next four weeks, which means that he can still return to the Bucks lineup should they progress deeper into the playoffs. Nonetheless, with the Bucks still jockeying for position in the Eastern Conference standings, head coach Doc Rivers expressed just how much of a loss Sims is even if some would look at him as merely their backup center.
“He’s out at least a month, so that puts us in a little bit of a bind. Minus him and Bobby [Portis], we really don’t have a lot of size left. It is what it is. We’ll make do,” Rivers said, per Eric Nehm of The Athletic.
Indeed, the Bucks’ frontcourt has become much thinner in the aftermath of Sims’ injury. Portis is only 14 games into his 25-game suspension due to the taking of a banned substance, and some tough rotation decisions will have to be made moving forward as Milwaukee looks to secure homecourt advantage for the first round of the playoffs.
Sims, since arriving on the Bucks via trade, was averaging 2.4 points and 4.9 rebounds on 68 percent shooting from the field, and the team will miss the vertical spacing he provides in the weeks that he’ll be on the mend.
More Giannis Antetokounmpo at center minutes for the Bucks?
Doc Rivers hasn’t been as brazen in deploying lineups with Giannis Antetokounmpo at the center, always preferring to have at least one of Brook Lopez or Jericho Sims on the floor at all times. But with this latest development, Antetokounmpo could be unleashed at the five.
The addition of Kyle Kuzma would make lineups with Antetokounmpo as the center more tenable. Kuzma provides rebounding tenacity and versatile defense for his position, and in lineups with that frontcourt pairing, they can have more defensive mobility on the perimeter as well as more ballhandling juice.
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