MILWAUKEE — Before a 121-105 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday night, Milwaukee head coach Doc Rivers delivered an injury update about backup center Jericho Sims, who had sprained his right thumb in Saturday’s win over the Indiana Pacers.
“It’s a pretty good injury,” Rivers said. “Probably decisions will have to be made.”
When asked if surgery was a possibility, Rivers confirmed that it may come to that, but Sims made his way to the floor for his pregame warmup 30 minutes after Rivers’ pregame update.
Jericho Sims going through his pregame workout with a taped up right thumb here in Milwaukee: https://t.co/ZCUDGd42Vt pic.twitter.com/rRK0Q6FTt4
— Eric Nehm (@eric_nehm) March 16, 2025
Under the watchful eye of the Bucks’ coaching and training staff, Sims completed his workout and got cleared to play in Sunday’s game. Against the Thunder, with his thumb taped up, Sims grabbed four rebounds, dished out one assist and blocked one shot in 12 minutes. On his first offensive possession, Sims soared for an offensive rebound, caught a pass star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo whipped to him and made an on-target dime for a corner 3.
“I didn’t feel too many problems out of that,” Sims said of the play, following the game. “I caught the ball well and I made the right pass.”
While Sims was able to play through the injury and didn’t feel anything that made him want to pull himself out of the game, the 26-year-old big man admitted he was still unsure of what was going to happen next.
“To be determined,” Sims said when asked if playing through Sunday’s game meant he could play through the injury. “I’m not sure which direction I’m going right now.”
On Monday night, the Bucks announced that Sims had undergone successful surgery to repair a torn ligament in his right thumb. They expect Sims to be “sidelined for approximately the next four weeks with a likely return for the playoffs.”
The Bucks still need to qualify for the postseason, but the Play-In Tournament starts on April 15 and the NBA playoffs start on April 19.
While Sims did not initially play when the Bucks acquired him at the trade deadline, he quickly became an integral part of Rivers’ rotation after the All-Star break when Bobby Portis was suspended 25 games for testing positive for Tramadol, a drug on the NBA’s banned substances list.
Sims played in all 14 of the Bucks’ games out of the break and averaged 2.4 points, 4.9 rebounds and 0.6 blocks in 15 minutes per game. In a three-big-man rotation, Sims came off the bench and helped the Bucks through the minutes when Brook Lopez was off the floor. He also played consistently in a lineup where Antetokounmpo and Lopez sat and was paired with Kyle Kuzma, who played power forward.
With high-level athleticism, Sims provided a different look than Lopez or Portis. On offense, he was not a floor stretcher but was an energetic screen setter and rim runner who also tried to crash the offensive glass. On defense, he was a capable switch defender and shot blocker. In 204 minutes with Sims on the floor, the Bucks were minus-2.5 points per 100 possessions with an offensive rating of 110.4 and a defensive rating of 112.8.
Now that Sims is projected to miss the rest of the regular season, the Bucks will need to find a way to cover 15 minutes in their big-man rotation. The Bucks’ April 6 contest in New Orleans will be the last game of Portis’ 25-game suspension. He will be allowed to return for the team’s April 8 home game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, which means the Bucks need to cover the next 11 games.
Looking at the internal options, the Bucks could insert rookie forward Tyler Smith or two-way player Pete Nance into the rotation for Sims, but that might not be a realistic option.
Smith, the 20-year-old rookie forward the Bucks took with the 33rd pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, has only played outside the last few minutes of the game once this season: a 27-minute performance on Feb. 3 when the Bucks sat most of their regulars against Oklahoma City.
Nance has appeared in only 16 games in his two NBA seasons and played 97 total minutes across those appearances with the Bucks, Cleveland Cavaliers and Philadelphia 76ers. His most consistent playing time came earlier this season during one week with the 76ers where he played 14.3 minutes per game in four games. That included an appearance on Jan. 19 in which Nance put up eight points and six rebounds in 24 minutes, all career highs, in a 14-point loss to the Bucks.
If Rivers doesn’t trust Smith or Nance to take Sims’ spot, the Bucks could turn to small-ball lineups. Since Kuzma has arrived in Milwaukee, Rivers has told reporters that while the Bucks are starting Kuzma at small forward alongside Antetokounmpo and Lopez, Kuzma is someone Rivers sees as another big man.
While Kuzma could be an option alongside Lopez, it will be interesting to see if Rivers is willing to play Kuzma next to Antetokounmpo and use the two-time MVP as a center. When the Bucks used Antetokounmpo as a center in small-ball lineups during their first extended Western Conference road trip in late January to cover for Portis, who was out mourning the loss of his grandmother, the Bucks forward was not shy in discussing the physical toll those minutes take on him.
“The moment I didn’t see Bobby on the trip, I already knew like, ‘Yep, here we go. We’re going to play a little bit of small ball. I’m gonna be at the five,’” Antetokounmpo said with a grimace, following the Bucks’ 125-112 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Jan. 28.
“Gotta be physical. Gotta rebound the ball. You gotta be up in pick and rolls. You gotta box out. There are a lot of things that Brook and Bobby do for us every single night and not having Bobby, obviously, you have to do a little bit more.”
If playing Antetokounmpo at center each night for the next 11 games is unappealing to Rivers, the Bucks could go outside the organization and sign a free agent. To do that, they would need to put Portis on the suspended list, which would open up a roster spot and allow them to sign an outside free agent. If they want to take that route, the Bucks could sign a player to consecutive 10-day contracts or two different players to separate back-to-back 10-day contracts, which would cover them through April 6 and would get them to Portis’ return.
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(Photo of Luka Dončić and Jericho Sims: Benny Sieu / Imagn Images)
