Giannis, Damian Lillard and Khris Middleton land on Bucks Injury Report vs Magic

The Milwaukee Bucks take on the Orlando Magic on Friday. They are coming off a win over the San Antonio Spurs and will look to keep the winning streak going.

However, they could be without a few players as Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard and Khris Middleton have all landed on the initial injury report. All three stars are listed as probable, so they will likely play unless unforeseen issues arise.

Before the game against the Spurs, the Bucks made the decision to bench Middleton from the starting five. The move came as a shock due to the status of the veteran wing, but it seemed to do the trick for Milwaukee.

Middleton has battled back from offseason surgery and his health just isn’t where it needs to be yet. Bucks head coach Doc Rivers spoke about this after the fact and revealed more reasoning behind the move.

“It’s just not improving to where he wants it or we want it, so we’ll just have to monitor,” Rivers said about Middleton’s health. “We’re cutting his minutes back a little bit and just trying to make sure he gets through this.”

“The bottom line is just not moving every night the way you want to,” Rivers said. “One night you see, moving great. One night he’s not. The minutes go up and down.

Middleton has been inconsistent in his play so far this season and the Bucks need him to find real success this year. Coming off the bench, the Bucks feel he can help ignite their second unit more than he could in the starting lineup.

Co-star Damian Lillard spoke out on the benching of Middleton.

“I think it just makes us an even stronger team. Khris coming off surgery and missing some time had to be settled a certain way.” point guard Damian Lillard said. “He’s going to be in a position to do more in the second group and that makes us a lot better as well … It just gives you an opportunity where you don’t have to have me and Giannis (Antetokounmpo) on the court one or other tough time. You have another great player out there and it’s hell for the other team’s bench to deal with so I think it just makes us better and it just creates a lot of balance for us.

More money: Damian Lillard reacts to Khris Middleton coming off the bench

We’ll get more information on the status of the three closers at tip-off tomorrow, but it looks like Milwaukee will have their guys ready to go.