Giannis Antetokounmpo is on fire with another double-double. The Bucks won 122-116 over the Raptors, and yet that’s hardly getting talked about enough. After Thursday, the environment in the NBA is a bit dicey. Every injury is getting more scrutiny than it did before. Now, Kyle Kuzma is under that microscope. He left the game when he was just getting productive. So, there were questions.

Kuzma limped back to the locker room. He was ruled out for the rest of the game. The initial report was a left ankle sprain, but the severity wasn’t confirmed. Doc Rivers addressed it immediately in the post-game presser.

“A sprain,” the head coach said about Kuzma’s current diagnosis, but was quick to minimize fears. “Not a bad one. He actually tried to do some running, and then they just pulled him out. So, probably day-to-day.”

He played 18 minutes and finished the game with nine points, one steal, and one block while shooting 4-of-5 from the field. Rivers confirmed that the injury occurred on a previous play when he was subbed out after committing a foul just 53 seconds into the fourth quarter. He landed on another player’s foot and hobbled off the court.

In the current atmosphere, these official injury reports are a necessity. Kuzma had a few hiccups in this game until Cole Anthony and Taurean Prince cleared the way for him to score. Over in LA, Luka Doncic just matched his old record he shared with Kobe Bryant. At this moment, Bucks fans are expecting him to prove he’s worth being on Giannis’ team, and an injury stalls that.

Bucks Nation doesn’t want a Kyle Kuzma rollercoaster

Taurean Prince and Bobby Portis saw more minutes in Kuzma’s absence. Unfortunately, he played into the second quarter. Usually, the bets (the legal ones) honor refunds only if the player is ruled out without playing the second half of the game. Even though an injury is completely unpredictable, that’s added to fans’ frustrations, and it’s spilling onto social media.

That’s, however, the cost of being Kyle Kuzma. There’s a lot to be desired about his skills in recent years. When he debuted his new bald look this season, fans weren’t the most thrilled about what they thought was a distraction. The fans’ only hope is for Doc Rivers to make him work in this roster.

When the Bucks opened the season against the Wizards, Kuzma showed signs of his old self. He finished with 12 points, four rebounds, three assists, two blocks, and a steal while shooting 5-of-10 from the floor. His passing has shown the most improvement, as seen in tonight’s game too, and he’s slowly showing his former defensive chops.

The HC was all praise for Kuzma’s performance. “He was great. Kyle Kuzma was phenomenal tonight. His playmaking, he got to the basket, made some layups, and that’s great. But I just thought his rolls to catch the pass, his dribble penetration, the pass was fantastic,” he said on Thursday.

Rivers needs players to take the load off Giannis Antetokounmpo mid-game, and Kuzma was proving productive off the bench. After Kevin Porter Jr.’s injury that game, he was depending on Kuzma even more. Now that the decision on Kuzma’s future games is pending, Rivers might have to go back to the drawing board.