MILWAUKEE (AP) — The Milwaukee Bucks said Damian Lillard has made “significant improvement” in his recovery from deep vein thrombosis in his right calf, but they haven’t indicated when the seven-time all-NBA guard might start playing again.
The update comes as the Bucks get ready to begin their postseason. Milwaukee, the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference, has its first playoff game Saturday at fourth-seeded Indiana.
“Damian’s most recent weekly scan shows that his injury has significantly improved which will enable him to move ahead safely with increased basketball activity,” general manager Jon Horst said Tuesday in a statement. “Damian’s health remains our No. 1 priority. We have followed strict protocols and will continue to do so. We are pleased with the positive news about Damian’s progress.”
The Bucks said Lillard would continue to increase his on-court basketball activity. Milwaukee coach Doc Rivers said after the Bucks' Tuesday practice that Lillard's on-court activity has essentially involved shooting and other noncontact work.
Rivers was asked if there's any possibility Lillard could play in the opening-round series.
“We're hopeful,” Rivers said. “We're just following the protocols, so we'll see. We don't know yet.”
Lillard last played in a game on March 18. The Bucks announced a week later that Lillard was dealing with deep vein thrombosis, an abnormal clot within a vessel where the congealing of blood blocks the flow through on the way back to the heart.
The 34-year-old Lillard finished the regular season ranked 10th in scoring (24.9) and 10th in assists (7.1). He earned his ninth All-Star Game selection this year.
The Bucks have dealt with injuries to key players every postseason since winning the NBA title in 2021.
Khris Middleton missed an entire seven-game Eastern Conference semifinal loss to Boston in 2022 with a sprained medial collateral ligament. Giannis Antetokounmpo bruised his lower back in Milwaukee’s first playoff game in 2023 and didn’t return until Game 4 of a first-round series it lost 4-1 to the Miami Heat. In the Bucks’ 4-2 first-round loss to Indiana last year, Antetokounmpo didn’t play at all because of a calf strain and Lillard missed two games with an Achilles injury.
Rivers said one advantage this year is that Lillard’s issue occurred early enough in the season that the Bucks got accustomed to playing without him by the time the playoffs started. That represents a major contrast from last year, when Antetokounmpo strained his calf in the Bucks’ 79th game, leaving them with little time to adapt to the situation before they had to open the playoffs without the two-time MVP.
Milwaukee went 10-4 without Lillard over its last 14 regular-season games and enters the playoffs on an eight-game winning streak.
Antetokounmpo has stepped up his performance by averaging 31.8 points, 12 rebounds and 11.8 assists in six April games and collecting triple-doubles in four of them. Kevin Porter Jr.'s playing time has increased in Lillard's absence, and he has responded by averaging 20.2 points over his last five games.
“At least we've had a long stretch without him,” Rivers said. “Scoot (Porter) has been able to come in and help. Ryan Rollins has played great. We've kind of changed the way we play a little bit, with Giannis having the ball more. At least we've had more time to adjust to it.”
Rivers also said he's “pretty sure” that reserve center Jericho Sims should be available for the postseason. Sims averaged 2.4 points, 4.9 rebounds and 15 minutes in 14 games after the Bucks acquired him from New York at the trade deadline, but he hasn't played for the last month due to a torn ligament in his right thumb.
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Milwaukee Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard watch from the bench during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Detroit Pistons, Sunday, April 13, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Aaron Gash)
CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland (AP) — Swiss investigators believe sparkling flares atop Champagne bottles started a fire in a bar at an Alpine ski resort that left 40 people dead and another 119 injured during a New Year’s celebration.
Most injuries, many of them serious, occurred when the blaze swept through the crowded bar in southwestern Switzerland in the early hours of Thursday.
The Crans-Montana resort is best known as an international ski and golf venue. Overnight, the Le Constellation bar morphed from a scene of revelry into the site of one of Switzerland’s worst tragedies.
Here’s what we know:
The blaze broke out around 1:30 a.m. Thursday during a holiday celebration inside the Le Constellation bar.
Two women told French broadcaster BFMTV they were inside when they saw a male bartender lifting a female colleague on his shoulders as she held a lit candle in a bottle. The flames spread, collapsing the wooden ceiling, they told the broadcaster.
People tried to escape from a nightclub area in the basement, up a flight of stairs and through a narrow door, causing a crowd surge, one of the women said.
A young man at the scene said people smashed windows to escape, reported BFMTV. He said he saw about 20 people scrambling to get out of the smoke and flames.
Gianni Campolo, a Swiss 19-year-old who was in Crans-Montana on vacation, rushed to help first responders after receiving a call from a friend who escaped the inferno. He described a scene of people trapped on the ground, severely injured and burned.
“I have seen horror and I don’t know what else would be worse than this,” Campolo told French broadcaster TF1.
Swiss officials described the blaze as a likely flashover, meaning that it triggered the release of combustible gases that can then ignite violently.
The injured suffered from serious burns and smoke inhalation. Some were flown to specialist hospitals across the country and elsewhere in Europe.
Authorities urged people to show caution in the coming days to avoid any incidents that could require the already overwhelmed medical resources.
Out of the 119 injured, 113 have now been identified, officials said Friday.
The severity of the burns has made it very difficult to identify bodies, bringing fresh agony for families who now must hand over DNA samples to authorities. In some cases, wallets and any ID documents inside turned to ash in the flames.
Emanuele Galeppini, a promising 17-year-old Italian golfer who competed internationally, is officially listed as one of Italy’s missing nationals. His uncle Sebastiano Galeppini told Italian news agency ANSA that their family is awaiting the DNA checks, though the Italian Golf Federation on its website announced that he had died.
Italy's foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, said that 13 Italian citizens were injured and six remained missing by midday Friday. Galeppini’s name was on the missing persons list.
France's foreign ministry said eight French people are missing and another nine are among the injured. Top-flight French soccer team FC Metz said one of its trainee players, 19-year-old Tahirys Dos Santos, was badly burned and has been transferred by plane to Germany for treatment.
On Instagram, an account filled up with photos of people who remained unaccounted for, with their friends and relatives begging for tips about the whereabouts of the missing.
The injured include 71 Swiss nationals, 14 French and 11 Italians, along with citizens of Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Luxembourg, Belgium, Portugal and Poland, Valais Canton police commander Frédéric Gisler said Friday. The nationalities of 14 people remain unclear.
The nearby regional hospital in Sion took in a flood of victims from the fire. Its general director, Eric Bonvin, recounted how staff scrambled to determine the extent of people’s injuries.
The hospital — in the heart of the Alps and no stranger to winter sports accidents — was well staffed for the end of the year, when crowds flock to the mountains. On top of that, many colleagues who had not been scheduled to work rushed in to lend a hand.
Still the hospital, which is about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the resort by air, quickly hit full capacity, authorities said, taking in about 80 seriously injured people in just three hours.
As of Friday, the hospital still had about 30 seriously injured patients in its care.
With high-altitude ski runs rising around 3,000 meters (nearly 9,850 feet) in the heart of the Valais region’s snowy peaks and pine forests, Crans-Montana is one of the top venues on the World Cup circuit.
The resort will host the best men’s and women’s downhill racers, including Lindsey Vonn, for their final events before the Milan Cortina Olympics in February.
The town’s Crans-sur-Sierre golf club, down the street from the bar, stages the European Masters each August on a picturesque course.
Dazio reported from Berlin and Leicester reported from Sion, Switzerland. Geir Moulson in Berlin, Graham Dunbar in Geneva and Nicole Winfield in Rome contributed to this report.
A police officer helps a boy to light a candle near the sealed off Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana, Swiss Alps, Switzerland, Friday, Jan. 2, 2026, where a devastating fire left dead and injured during the New Year's celebrations. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)
Police officers inspect the area where a fire broke out at the Le Constellation bar and lounge leaving people dead and injured, during New Year’s celebration, in Crans-Montana, Swiss Alps, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026. (Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone via AP)
