The Bucks' Khris Middleton opens up on getting through his toughest year and bouncing back
On April 20, 2022, Khris Middleton planted his left leg to begin an offensive move against the Chicago Bulls in Game 2 of the Milwaukee Bucks' first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. Only that exact spot was slick, and his leg slipped out causing a sprain in his medial collateral ligament.
In a way, so much of what was solid in his life moved from under his feet in that moment.
Now with some distance, he was able to laugh a little bit at the metaphor and couldn’t quite disagree.
“Yeah,” he began with a knowing smile, “I’ve been thinking and hoping that I’m getting out of that stretch of my life where I can move on to a little bit more positive things. But yeah, it got really high then it got really low for me the last year or two. But that’s life. We go through things at different stages and you learn from it and grow from it. I think that’s the most important thing. Try to let a lot of frustration go and realize part of it is life and just try to grow with it and learn from it all and appreciate things a little bit more.”
More: Khris Middleton becomes the No. 5 all-time scorer in Bucks history
Khris Middleton reflects on one of toughest years of his life
The knee injury wasn’t the only physical issue Middleton was dealing with at the end of the 2021-22 season. By July 2022, the torn scapholunate ligament in his left wrist had not healed and would require surgery.
The start to his 2022-23 season was now on pause.
And just as Middleton was ramping up for a return to court, his father James suddenly passed away in November 2022. The pair were famously close, with Khris often talking about his father’s support and motivation helping him reach not just his potential in basketball, but off the court as a leader in his hometown of Charleston, South Carolina, and his adopted home of Milwaukee.
Ever stoic, even amongst his closest confidants, Middleton was clearly heartbroken. Basketball, to some degree, would never be the same. But in a conversation with the Journal Sentinel, he said he began to draw on lessons that would serve him well in the near-term.
“I had great years with my father,” he said “The last couple years he taught me a lot of different things that I didn’t understand at the time that I do now. A lot of it comes with appreciating with the time you have now, the things that we do.”
That would be tested just a month later in December, when after an impressive return to action from his wrist surgery his right knee began to fail him.
It had been repaired once before in 2011 and had been managed for over a decade, but the wear and tear had finally taken its toll. Immediate surgery wasn’t required but he missed 18 games. And when he returned, he came off the bench for the next 14 on a strict minutes watch.
Middleton admitted it all finally got to be too much.
“It was just not finishing last season with the knee, then having the wrist surgery, then my father passing, then coming back and tweaking my knee and that was s---,” he said. “Then just being in and out, the minutes restriction. I didn’t feel like myself – mentally or physically – for the longest time.
“So, frustration was coming out at times. Some guys saw it behind the scenes every now and then but I tried not to make it for the team to see. I was going through something personally and a lot of the guys knew it and I had a lot of great teammates that were there for me in a lot of difficult times. That was the frustration part.”
But the hits kept coming.
The knee injury was aggravated just before the end of the regular season and in the Bucks’ surprising first-round playoff loss to Miami it was clear it needed repair. He underwent surgery in May.
After those darkest of times, however, Middleton found himself emerging on the other end with a light in hand.
“I think at home after surgery, being with my family, just sitting and thinking ‘which way are you going to take it?’ Are you going to still sulk and be sad or complain about different things not going your way or are you going to appreciate what you still have and appreciate and have fun with what you’re capable of doing? And that’s the route I’m trying to take. It’s difficult some days…"
He smiled.
“…I’m old and grumpy at times. But still try to have fun and appreciate who I’m surrounded by and have fun with life.”
The mindset also helped center him as he became an unrestricted free agent in June after declining a $40.4 million player option.
He said leaving Milwaukee was never what he wanted – “Where is my quality of life going to be the best? I felt deep down in my heart, and so did my family, that it would be here.” – but the firing of head coach Mike Budenholzer, his own free agency along with Brook Lopez’s, had Middleton working to keep his focus on what was in his control.
“It definitely crossed my mind a lot,” he said of wondering what was in store for him and the team after another disappointing playoff exit. “I try not to worry about those things during the season but definitely during the offseason you start calculating things in your mind about where things could go. It’s terrible for you of course, but it was just one of those things where you’re thinking about it, you’re thinking about the pros and cons, you’re thinking about the what ifs more times than not.
"For me I try to focus on the things I can control ‘cause you can spiral. I could spiral if I don’t. So I try to focus on what I can control and thankfully it was pinning my years here instead of somewhere else.”
In July he re-signed on a three-year deal that includes a player option. His base salary was reduced to $28.7 million this season and $31 million next year.
“Some people say it’s safe, but I think it was a smart decision for myself because this is the place where I saw myself finishing my career,” he said. “I love playing alongside these guys, I love living in this city, so to me it was a smart decision of forget the one year and sign up for a couple more years.”
His rejuvenated mindset and health are what made handling the minutes restriction he was under for the first part of this season a far different task than last. And he remained upbeat even after he felt tightness in his Achilles tendon against Washington on Nov. 24, which forced him to sit a game and once again ease back in.
Middleton finally topped the 29-minute mark on Dec. 7 and now, finally, appears to be able to play unencumbered minutes for the first time since slipping on that spot in April 2022.
The behind-the-scenes frustration has been missing because he is truly healthy.
“Last year I knew waking up was going to be hell,” he said. “I knew getting warm was going to be hell. I knew after the game was going to feel like hell. But now, I don’t feel that. I don’t have that in my mind. I know I can wake up out of bed, hop out if I want to, without hurting myself or feeling like I just made something worse.
"That’s a great feeling to have that you sometimes forget about when you’ve been injured for so long or you’ve been going through something for so long. I’m happy about where I am now with it all.”
Middleton adjusting to a new role alongside Giannis, Damian Lillard
Apart from his physical return to action, Middleton’s role on the team suddenly changed with the acquisition of all-NBA point guard Damian Lillard on the eve of training camp. In an instant it was clear Middleton would no longer be the team’s second offensive option behind Giannis Antetokounmpo. It was also clear he would no longer be the first option to close out games.
But this part is easy for him. Or at least easier because he’s pretty much done it all.
“I haven’t worried about my role. I haven’t,” he said. “I’ve played every role in my career I feel like. Starting from high school all the way up until the league. I still play many different roles. A three-and-D guy early in the league. A spot-up shooter in my first year in Detroit and my first year here. More of a playmaker, ball handler, a guy to have the ball in my hands at the end of game. I’ve been all different roles.
“I’m confident as a player that I be the best player in my role and I can help the team win in whichever role that is. That’s my most important thing that I’ve learned over the years to stick with one team and how to stick in the league is just play your ole the best you can. Be a star in your role, like (Bobby Portis) says.
"You got a guy like ‘BP’ coming off the bench who could start for any other team – that puts me in check also. I can put my pride aside if he’s putting his pride aside also.”
But he knew there would be growing pains. Middleton’s limited minutes alongside Antetokounmpo and Lillard prevented him from settling into what that role could be in the early going.
“We felt it early on in the season just not having him out there,” Bucks head coach Adrian Griffin acknowledged. “There was several games he was at a hard cap (on his minutes) where it was challenging for us as well. Some of those games were close and we had to get him out and some games I’m trying to buy a couple minutes here where I would take him out and sometimes we’d have a rhythm going.”
Added Pat Connaughton: “When you’re an all-star caliber player, if you’re not able to get above 20 minutes then you’re kind of put into a box on what you can do and the impact you can have. I think with Khris when he was coming back and getting 16, 18, 20, you’re putting him in positions where he either had to be more aggressive than he was potentially ready for, or it just put him in spots that I don’t think he was necessarily used to. Whereas when you start talking about him getting up to 25, 30, now he can kind of have an impact on all the different areas.”
And while there may be some muscle memory for Middleton in some situations his adjusted role has put him in, some of those skills may not have been flexed as much over the last decade. But they’re there. And it's no coincidence the team is 4-1 and averaged 130.4 points per game since he's been averaging 30 minutes.
“He’s touched pretty much everything,” Antetokounmpo said. “He knows how to play the game of basketball and now there’s going to be times that he has to do a little bit of everything. And there’s going to be sometimes that he has to just catch-and-shoot. There’s going to be sometimes that he has to play off the dribble. There’s going to be sometimes that he has to take over in the fourth quarter. He’s capable of doing all of those things because he’s done it in his career and he’s really good at it.”
And opponents who have long respected his game know it.
“You have to tip your hat off to him, too, because he’s been willing to play a bunch of different roles over his years here playing for a lot of really good teams,” Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra said of Middleton. “You have to sacrifice to do great things in this league. He’s a great scorer, he’s a proven scorer, he can be a No. 1, No. 2, No. 3.
"I think he’s probably at a point right now where I think a lot of – being on a really good team – it just doesn’t matter. It’s only narratives for the people on the outside. He’s a weapon regardless of where you want to slot him as an option.”
Somewhat forgotten over the last year is that Middleton was an all-star in 2021-22 and had been a 20-point per game scorer on about 15 shots per game over five straight seasons. With the way the Bucks offense is moving now that he’s back at full strength it’s not a stretch to think he can’t continue that track – in part because he’s already traveled over perhaps its roughest stretch.
“Even though I went through a rough season last year with the surgery, it’s just now appreciate the times I am on this court appreciate that I’m still able to work through some things and fight my way back onto the court and fight my way back into any situation,” he said. “That’s kind of the mindset I’ve had over the summer, to start enjoying it.
"Life isn’t that bad for me. As much as I want to complain, as much as I’ve been hurt these last couple months to a year, it’s not the end of the world.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Khris Middleton opens up on how his toughest year led to a bounceback
