Reports: Bucks' Middleton had ankle surgeries

Milwaukee Bucks forward Khris Middleton is recovering from arthroscopic surgeries on both ankles this offseason, sources confirmed to ESPN on Wednesday.

The surgeries were related to injuries Middleton suffered throughout the course of the season and were considered cleanups, sources said.

Middleton, a three-time All-Star, is expected to be ready for the start of the 2024-25 season.

Middleton sprained his left ankle in a Feb. 6 game against the Phoenix Suns after he landed on Kevin Durant‘s foot following a jump shot. Middleton missed the next 16 games with the injury, which he called the worst ankle sprain of his career and lingered all season. He underwent surgery on it shortly after Milwaukee’s season ended in May.

The right ankle injury occurred during Game 2 of the Bucks’ first-round playoff loss to the Indiana Pacers. The injury kept him from practicing during the playoffs, but he played through it to average 24.7 points, 9.2 rebounds and 4.7 assists in helping Milwaukee fight in the series without an injured Giannis Antetokounmpo. He had surgery on it in June.

“[Middleton] was injured, you know, through the playoffs,” Bucks coach Doc Rivers said Tuesday during a broadcast for the team’s summer league game. “And just played because, you know, no one else was playing. He played terrific. He had surgery in the summer, but he’ll be fine by the beginning of camp, which is good for us.”

Middleton, who turns 33 next month, has only appeared in 88 regular-season games across the past two seasons because of a number of lingering injuries. In April 2022, he sprained his knee during the Bucks’ first-round playoff series and then had wrist surgery during the 2022 offseason.

In the summer of 2023, he had right knee surgery and was kept on a strict minutes restriction for most of the first half of the season.

The Athletic first reported on the surgeries Wednesday.