{"id":244168,"date":"2025-10-22T18:36:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T18:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/244168\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T18:36:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T18:36:08","slug":"wizards-khris-middleton-opens-season-in-milwaukee-for-1st-time-since-being-traded-by-bucks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/244168\/","title":{"rendered":"Wizards’ Khris Middleton opens season in Milwaukee for 1st time since being traded by Bucks"},"content":{"rendered":"

MILWAUKEE (AP) \u2014 Khris Middleton<\/a> awoke in Milwaukee on the morning of an NBA<\/a> season opener, just as he has done many times over the last dozen years.<\/p>\n

The difference on Wednesday was that he was doing it as a member of the Washington Wizards<\/a> rather than the Bucks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to lie,\u201d the 34-year-old wing said Wednesday during the Wizards\u2019 shootaround ahead of their first game of the season. \u201cIt felt a little weird.\u201d<\/p>\n

This won’t be the first time Middleton had faced his former team since the Bucks sent him and 2024 first-round pick AJ Johnson<\/a> to Washington in a trade-deadline deal that brought Kyle Kuzma<\/a> to Milwaukee. He scored 12 points and missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer in the Wizards\u2019 104-101 loss to the Bucks in Washington on Feb. 21 of last season.<\/p>\n

But, that won’t reduce any of the emotional impact that comes from playing against the Bucks in Milwaukee, where he had so many of his career highlights.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it’s different just being back here, to have the fans here and to be where I lived for a little more than a decade,\u201d Middleton said. \u201cIt’s a little bit more to come back to the building you helped build.\u201d<\/p>\n

Middleton made three All-Star teams and won a title with the Bucks, who acquired him from the Detroit Pistons<\/a> in the summer of 2013. He averaged 17.1 points, 4.9 rebounds and 4.1 assists in 12 seasons with the Bucks.<\/p>\n

He is the Bucks\u2019 all-time leader in career 3-pointers (1,382). His 12,586 career points with Milwaukee rank third in franchise history, behind former teammate Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a> and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Middleton also ranks second to Antetokounmpo in games played (735), third in assists (2,990), fifth in steals (870) and seventh in rebounds (3,598).<\/p>\n

\u201cHe should get the warmest welcome ever,\u201d Antetokounmpo said Sunday after the Bucks\u2019 open scrimmage. \u201cWhen he comes here and he sees his tribute video, he should be in tears crying before the game. I cannot explain how much Khris means to this team. I cannot explain how much Khris means to me.”<\/p>\n

Middleton averaged 23.6 points, 7.6 rebounds and 5.1 assists in the postseason during the Bucks\u2019 run to a 2021 title, their first championship in 50 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s my guy,\u201d Antetokounmpo said. \u201cThat\u2019s my brother for life. We\u2019ve done incredible things together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Milwaukee coach Doc Rivers called Middleton a \u201cBuck for life\u201d and said he expects the three-time All-Star to have plenty of motivation Wednesday. <\/p>\n

Rivers referenced how he spent the first eight seasons of his own playing career with the Atlanta Hawks<\/a> and that he believed they treated him great. It didn’t stop him from wanting to show the Hawks what they were missing after they traded him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tried to put 50 on them,\u201d Rivers said. \u201cOf course, I didn\u2019t have the talent to (do that). That was the only problem. Khris does. Khris is a great scorer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rivers said he put some pressure on the Bucks’ video crew to put together a \u201cphenomenal\u201d package highlighting Middleton’s accomplishments in Milwaukee.<\/p>\n

Middleton couldn’t help but think back to some of those memories on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust reminiscing,\u201d Middleton said. “I\u2019ve walked through these hallways many times, many days, done great things in here. It\u2019s definitely a moment I got to reflect on when I got here. Think about the good times, the bad times, the ups and downs, all of it.”<\/p>\n

Middleton\u2019s career totals with Milwaukee would be even higher if injuries hadn\u2019t limited him to 33 games in 2022-23 and 55 in 2023-24. Middleton missed the Bucks\u2019 first 21 games last season after recovering from surgeries to each of his ankles. <\/p>\n

He also had a sprained medial collateral ligament that prevented him from playing in the 2022 Eastern Conference semifinals, which the Bucks lost in seven games to the Boston Celtics<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Middleton is feeling good now and eager to start a season without worrying about his health.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy body feels great,\u201d Middleton said. \u201cI had a great summer where I got to start from the basics and build up and not really have to worry about rehabs or coming back and procedures and what not. My body’s in a good place. We’ll see how it goes this season.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/NBA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILWAUKEE (AP) \u2014 Khris Middleton awoke in Milwaukee on the morning of an NBA season opener, just as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":196103,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":["post-244168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244168\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}