Antetokounmpo last played Feb. 2 against Memphis, scoring 30 points on 14-of-21 shooting in 37 minutes. He was then rested, along with several other players, on Feb. 3 in Oklahoma City due to pain in his right knee that he has been managing since training camp. After participating in the team’s shootaround in Charlotte on Feb. 5, he was expected to start that night. But after taking the court for final warmups, he said he felt the calf tighten and exited the game just before the national anthem.

“He wanted to play the Charlotte game, didn’t feel great once he went out on the floor and that was a game time decision — thank God he didn’t play,” Rivers said before Sunday’s game. “And then from there we’ve just been monitoring it and it just hasn’t improved enough for us to play him. If this was a playoff game would he play? Probably yes. But this is not. And we want to make sure he’s playing in the playoffs. Obviously we haven’t been playing well over the last seven games. We’d love to have him, but you still gotta be smart. At the end of the day I think it’s more important to get him healthy.”