MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) - For the first time since leaving a Milwaukee Bucks game against the Detroit Pistons, Bucks star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo spoke with reporters at a Bucks shootaround.

While he remains out, he addressed his injury and the surrounding rumors about his future with the team.

On the injury, Antetokounmpo says he felt like someone kicked him when he went down. He wasn't sure what the injury was until he learned from the testing. He says the calf strain is the same soleus strain that he suffered at the end of the 2023-24 season that caused him to miss the final three games of the NBA regular season and the first-round exit against the Indiana Pacers.

He knows he has to be smarter and thinks potentially trying to get back before may have contributed to this injury. He says now he feels good.

"I've been working, I've been running. I just can't wait. I don't know when they going to clear me, but I can't wait to get back out there and play basketball," said Antetokounmpo.  

The latest reports from ESPN's Shams Charania came out the day the Bucks faced the Pistons on December 3rd.

Giannis says he did not see the latest report.

"If my agent is talking to the Bucks about it, he's his own person. He can have any conversation he wants. At the end of the day, I don't work for my agent, my agent works for me. There's going to be conversations going to be made between him the Bucks, and his other players, and him and other teams and other GMs - executives around the league. It's something that you can't control but at the end of the day, I personally have not have the conversation with the Bucks. I'm still locked in. Locked in on my teammates, most importantly locked in on me getting back healthy," said Antetokounmpo.

Alex Saratsis is the main representative for Antetokounmpo. Antetokounmpo says his focus is on his teammates because he knows it's been a tough stretch of games. The Bucks are 3-11 in their last 14 games. Antetokounmpo has missed eight of those games and played less than a half in two others.

Antetokounmpo says he knows the rumors and outside noise can take a toll on his teammates, but it does not affect his work or his relationship with members of the Bucks. He has had conversations with teammates during it all.

"I'm just staying locked in and I'm telling them the same thing. Right now, we cannot be worrying about what the rumors are - rumors and headlines," said Antetokounmpo. "At the end of the day we fighting for our lives. We got to win a game. Rumors won't help us win a game. We just got to focus on basketball. How can we be better? How can we learn how to win a game? What it takes to win a game? I don't think anybody in this locker room or in this organization don't want to win games."

 "This is not who we are. Our character right now is being tested, and we just got to find our identity. What is our identity going to be? Are we going to be quitters, just quit and go the other way start playing 'me basketball' and not move the ball or are we going to be together."

  Entering the matchup with the Toronto Raptors on December 18th, the Bucks are 11-16 and 11^th in the Eastern Conference.