CHICAGO – One of the messier subplots to the end of the 2025-26 Milwaukee Bucks season was a league investigation into whether or not the team violated the player participation policy over Giannis Antetokounmpo’s left knee hyperextension.
That storyline came to end once the league determined no violations occurred.
Sources with direct knowledge of the situation told the Journal Sentinel the NBA determined no further action was needed under the circumstances.
In early April the league had interviewed Antetokounmpo, as well as multiple members of the organization’s staff about the situation.
Antetokounmpo suffered the hyperextension and bone bruise in his left knee March 15 when he landed awkwardly after a dunk at Fiserv Forum, a play that was his second-to-last of the season.
After the game the 31-year-old was insistent he could play in short order.
On March 17 he was questionable to play with an ankle sprain, but shortly before the Bucks game against Cleveland that night Antetokounmpo was ruled out with the knee issues. On March 24 the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) released a statement on Antetokounmpo’s behalf urging the league to enforce its own player participation policies. Despite going through extended pregame workout routines, Antetokounmpo never saw the floor again and missed the final 15 games of the season.
In two separate media availabilities in April, he insisted he was healthy enough to have played at some point in the last month of the season.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: NBA concludes look into Bucks’ handling of Giannis Antetokounmpo’s injury
Reporting by Jim Owczarski, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
