Can getStaticProps() use .then syntax in Next.js?

Question

I am reading the Next.js documentation and see the following example for using getStaticProps()

export async function getStaticProps() {
  // Get external data from the file system, API, DB, etc.
  const data = ...

  // The value of the `props` key will be
  //  passed to the `Home` component
  return {
    props: ...
  }
}

Wherever I look, I've only see export async function getStaticProps() despite the fact that Promises with .then syntax should work just as well. Does Next enforce the async/await syntax or is it possible to use chained Promises with .then?