The Milwaukee Bucks have played all season without young forward Jabari Parker. How will his return Friday help the Bucks moving forward?
The Milwaukee Bucks announced this week that forward Jabari Parker will make his season debut Friday against the New York Knicks. The former Duke product has been out since February of 2017 after tearing the ACL in his left knee.
Boasting a 4-0 record since head coach Jason Kidd was fired and interim coach Joe Prunty took over, the Bucks will look to integrate Parker into a team finding its way without Kidd. Parker averaged 20.1 points per game last season, serving as the team’s second option alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Prunty has already indicated that Parker will be on a minutes restriction of some kind, standard procedure for a player returning from a long-term injury. The team will look to take advantage of a soft spot in the schedule to help Parker shake off the rust.
Although the wins banked in the last week are nice, that doesn’t mean the team has everything figured out. They still have significant questions to answer, questions that in part saw Kidd fired. Parker may be the answer to some of those questions.
Parker will have to answer questions of his own — has he lost any athleticism, how rusty will his shot be, can he be a high-level defender? But he is also a talented player whose presence will help Milwaukee in a variety of ways. Here are five reasons his return will help the Bucks.