Jared Dudley, Kostas Antetokounmpo ruled out for Bucks matchup

The Los Angeles Lakers will be without one of their star players when they take on the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday. After practice on Wednesday, Frank Vogel announced that Jared Dudley — the third piece of the Lakers’ “Big Three” — will be sidelined once again on Thursday.

Dudley has missed the Lakers’ last five games with a sore right calf. Somehow, the Lakers have managed to lose only one game during that stretch.

According to Frank Vogel, Dudley first suffered the injury following his big performance against the Chicago Bulls on Jan. 8. He’s since re-aggravated it, which is why he won’t be suiting up against his former team on Thursday.

“He came into play play pickup with the some of the younger guys and strained it then,” Vogel said. “He was getting close to return and then strained it again — just aggravated it — so I just put him ‘out’ for a few more days.”

Thankfully, it sounds like Dudley will be back on the court in no time. The Lakers have gone 5-1 in games Dudley has played this season.

In addition to Dudley, Kostas Antetokounmpo won’t be able to go head-to-head with his older brothers, Giannis and Thananis, due to what the Lakers are listing as “right knee patellar tendinitis.” Kostas didn’t get the opportunity to play against his brothers last year either.

The only other real question mark on the Lakers’ injury report is LeBron James, who’s been listed as questionable with a left ankle sprain. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (left ankle sprain), Anthony Davis (right ankle sprain) and Wes Matthews (sore right Achilles) have all been listed as probable.

Obviously the Lakers would love to have James in the lineup on Thursday, especially after how entertaining the Bucks’ game against the Brooklyn Nets was on Monday, but with a three-game lead over the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference, they can afford to have James miss a game if he needs to.

The Lakers and Bucks will tip-off at 4:30 p.m. PT on Thursday. The game will be broadcast on TNT nationally and Spectrum SportsNet locally.

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