Milwaukee Bucks Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Bucks Sign Grayson Allen To Two-Year Extension

October 18th, 2021 at 5:52pm CST by Luke Adams

5:52pm: The Bucks have officially signed Allen to his extension, per NBA.com’s transactions log. The deal’s overall base value is lower than $20MM, according to Jim Owczarksi of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, who reports that it can be worth up to $19.5MM if certain team and player incentives are met.

4:16pm: The Bucks have reached an agreement on a two-year, $20MM rookie scale contract extension with wing Grayson Allen, agent Mitch Nathan of CAA tells Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).

Allen, who is entering his fourth NBA season, had the best year of his career for the Grizzlies in 2020/21, starting 38 of 50 games and averaging 10.6 PPG, 3.2 RPG and 2.2 APG. The former Duke star has knocked down 39.5% of his 3-point attempts over the last two years while steadily increasing his volume.

The Bucks acquired Allen from Memphis over the summer in exchange for Sam Merrill and a pair of future second-round picks. He’ll play a rotation role on the wing in Milwaukee this season and would have been eligible for restricted free agency in 2022 if he hadn’t worked out a deal with the team today.

Allen’s two-year contract will give the Bucks some insurance in the event that they can’t complete a new contract with Donte DiVincenzo, who is also on track for potential restricted free agency next summer if he doesn’t sign an extension today. Allen’s new deal will pay him approximately the equivalent of the full mid-level exception.

Allen will earn just over $4MM this season before his extension goes into effect in 2022/23.

Bucks Waive Four Players

October 16th, 2021 at 5:48pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Bucks have trimmed their roster by waiving four players, according to NBA.com’s transactions log.

Jalen Lecque, Tremont Waters and Javin DeLaurier were all let go, along with Wenyen Gabriel, who was signed and waived today. All four are candidates to join Milwaukee’s G League affiliate, the Wisconsin Herd, after clearing waivers.

Lecque played four games with the Pacers last season after getting into five the previous year as a rookie with the Suns. He signed a training camp deal with the Bucks on Friday.

Waters was a second-round pick by the Celtics in 2019 and spent the past two years in Boston. DeLaurier played for the Hornets’ affiliate in the G League last season and was with the Hawks during Summer League. Gabriel has appeared in 51 combined games with the Kings, Trail Blazers and Pelicans.

Bucks Sign GM Jon Horst To Contract Extension

October 15th, 2021 at 10:20am CST by Luke Adams

10:20am: The Bucks have officially announced Horst’s extension.

“Jon’s preparedness, decision-making and leadership have been instrumental in the Bucks’ success during his tenure, and he has earned this extension,” Bucks co-owners Marc Lasry, Wes Edens, and Jamie Dinan said in a statement. “We appreciate Jon’s hard work and creativity and are excited that he will continue to lead our basketball operations for years to come.”

10:09am: The Bucks and general manager Jon Horst have reached an agreement on a long-term contract extension, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

As Wojnarowski writes, Horst had been entering the final year of his existing contract. His new deal, which was finalized on Friday morning, will cover “several” years.

Horst first assumed control of the Bucks’ basketball operations department in 2017, receiving a promotion from his role as director of basketball operations to replace John Hammond as general manager. His original contract was for three years, and he had two more years tacked onto it in 2019.

The Bucks couldn’t have asked for much more from Horst during his first four seasons on the job. The team has a 206-103 record (.667) in the regular season during that time and won its first title in 50 years in 2021. Horst was also named Executive of the Year in 2019.

Milwaukee’s championship core remains in place for the next several seasons, with Giannis Antetokounmpo under contract through at least 2025, Jrue Holiday locked up through 2024, and Khris Middleton secured through 2023. While the Bucks may face tough decisions on role players in the next year or two, the team has now locked up its off-court leaders as well, extending both Horst and head coach Mike Budenholzer this offseason.

Bucks Sign Jalen Lecque To Camp Deal

October 15th, 2021 at 8:13am CST by Luke Adams

The Bucks have signed guard Jalen Lecque to their training camp roster, according to Jim Owczarski of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The club opened up a pair of roster spots on Thursday by waiving Elijah Bryant and Rayjon Tucker.

Lecque signed with the Suns in 2019 as an undrafted free agent and spent his rookie season in Phoenix, playing limited minutes in five games for the club. The 21-year-old was sent to Oklahoma City during the 2020 offseason in the Chris Paul trade and was subsequently flipped to the Pacers. He spent most of the 2020/21 season in Indiana, appearing in four games, before being waived in March.

Although Lecque has only seen the court in nine games at the NBA level, he has been a G League fixture over the last two years, averaging 13.7 PPG, 3.4 APG, and 3.4 RPG in 47 games (27.7 MPG) for the Northern Arizona Suns and Fort Wayne Mad Ants. He has struggled with his efficiency in the NBAGL, however, posting an overall shooting line of .405/.232/.603.

Because no team holds Lecque’s G League returning rights, the Bucks can make him an affiliate player for the Wisconsin Herd if he’s waived in the coming days and then signs a G League contract. I’d expect that to be the plan.

Bucks Sign, Waive Elijah Bryant

October 14th, 2021 at 8:16pm CST by Luke Adams

OCTOBER 14: Bryant has been waived for the second time in less than three weeks, JD Shaw of Hoops Rumors tweets.

SEPTEMBER 29: Three days after waiving him, the Bucks have re-signed free agent shooting guard Elijah Bryant to a training camp deal, league sources tell Eric Nehm of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Bryant, 26, initially joined the Bucks during the last week of the 2020/21 regular season and was part of the group that won an NBA championship three months later. He put up 16 points and six rebounds in 32 minutes during Milwaukee’s regular season finale, then logged garbage-time minutes in 11 playoff contests.

The former BYU standout, who began his professional career by playing in Israel from 2018-21, received a multiyear contract when he signed with the Bucks in May, but it wasn’t guaranteed beyond the ’20/21 season, allowing the team to cut him over the weekend without incurring a cap charge. His new deal may include Exhibit 10 language, which would put him in line for a bonus worth up to $50K if he’s waived and then spends at least 60 days with Milwaukee’s G League affiliate, the Wisconsin Herd.

Re-signing Bryant puts Milwaukee on track to have a full 20-man preseason roster. In addition to their 13 players on fully guaranteed contracts and two on two-way deals, the Bucks are carrying Georgios Kalaitzakis on a partially guaranteed salary and Tremont Waters and Javin DeLaurier on Exhibit 10 pacts. Bryant and Johnny O’Bryant – whose agreement with the team was reported on Tuesday – should round out the roster.

Bucks Sign, Waive Rayjon Tucker

October 14th, 2021 at 7:07pm CST by Luke Adams

OCTOBER 14: The Bucks, as expected, have waived Tucker, JD Shaw of Hoops Rumors tweets.

OCTOBER 13: The Bucks have signed free agent swingman Rayjon Tucker to an Exhibit 10 contract, a league source tells our JD Shaw (Twitter link). In a corresponding roster move, Milwaukee waived Jemerrio Jones, who signed a training camp contract earlier in the week.

Tucker, 24, spent most of the 2019/20 season with the Jazz, then signed a two-way contract with the Sixers in January of 2021. He has appeared in a total of 34 regular season games in his first two NBA seasons, averaging a modest 2.8 PPG and 0.9 RPG in 6.7 minutes per contest.

The Bucks signed Tucker to his very first NBA contract, an Exhibit 10 deal back in August 2019. He appeared in 16 games with the Wisconsin Herd – Milwaukee’s G League affiliate – as a rookie before getting called up to the NBA by Utah.

The Bucks likely envision Tucker returning to the Herd for the 2021/22 campaign, and Jones figures to join him there.

And-Ones: Li. Ball, Restricted Free Agency, 2022 Draft, Floyd

October 12th, 2021 at 11:16am CST by Luke Adams

LiAngelo Ball, the brother of NBA guards LaMelo Ball and Lonzo Ball, is signing a G League contract and will enter the October 23 NBAGL draft, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

LiAngelo played for the Hornets in the Las Vegas Summer League, and Charania suggests he’s a candidate to be selected by the Greensboro Swarm – Charlotte’s G League affiliate – in the NBAGL draft. However, if the Hornets were prioritizing Ball for a spot on their G League squad, they’d likely sign him to an Exhibit 10 contract in order to make him an affiliate player.

As John Hollinger of The Athletic tweets, the G League draft isn’t expected to be packed with talent, so Ball has a good chance of coming off the board in the top 10 or 20 picks.

Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

Jonathan Givony and Mike Schmitz of ESPN (Insider link) have updated their top-100 list for the 2022 NBA draft. Within the article, Schmitz identifies French center Ismael Kamagate as the international prospect who is “making the most noise” early in the season. Kamagate is the No. 36 player on ESPN’s 2022 big board.
In an interesting piece for HoopsHype, Michael Scotto spoke with a handful of agents and team executives about how restricted free agency works behind the scenes. One agent suggested that restricted free agency is “not really free agency,” since rival teams are so reluctant to sign players to offer sheets that tie up cap space for several days at the start of the league year and may just end up being matched.
The Bucks (No. 2), Heat (No. 5), Suns (No. 6), Warriors (No. 7), and Hawks (No. 11) are among the biggest risers in ESPN’s latest installment of “future” power rankings from Kevin Pelton, Bobby Marks, Andre’ Snellings, and Tim Bontemps (Insider link). For a second consecutive year, the Nets rank first and the Cavaliers are dead-last on ESPN’s list, which is essentially designed to be power rankings that cover the next three seasons.
Free agent guard Jordan Floyd, who was on the Lakers’ Summer League roster, is signing with Kolossos H Hotels in Greece on a deal that includes an NBA out, a source told our JD Shaw (Twitter link).

Bucks Sign Jemerrio Jones To Camp Deal

October 12th, 2021 at 9:08am CST by Luke Adams

The Bucks have signed free agent forward Jemerrio Jones to a non-guaranteed training camp deal, according to RealGM’s official transactions log.

Jones, 26, played his college ball at Hill College and New Mexico State from 2014-18 before going undrafted. He has primarily played in the G League since going pro, spending time with the South Bay Lakers, Wisconsin Herd, and Delaware Blue Coats from 2018-21. He also had a brief stint at the NBA level with the Lakers, appearing in six games with Los Angeles at the end of the 2018/19 season.

Jones’ best season came in 2019/20, when he averaged a double-double (10.8 PPG, 12.1 RPG) in 42 games (30.4 MPG) for the Herd, Milwaukee’s G League affiliate. He earned a spot on the All-NBAGL Third Team that year.

The Bucks presumably envision Jones returning to the Herd for the 2021/22 season. Assuming his deal contains Exhibit 10 language, he’ll receive a bonus worth up to $50K if he spends at least 60 days with Wisconsin after he’s waived by Milwaukee.

The Bucks, who waived Johnny O’Bryant on Monday, once again have a full 20-man preseason roster after signing Jones.

Bucks Cut Johnny O’Bryant

October 11th, 2021 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

The Bucks have waived forward Johnny O’Bryant, the team announced today (via Twitter). Milwaukee now has 19 players on its preseason roster.

O’Bryant, 28, was selected 36th overall by Milwaukee in the 2014 draft and spent the first two seasons of his professional career with the Bucks. He later spent time with Denver and Charlotte, ultimately appearing in 147 NBA regular season games, averaging 3.5 PPG and 2.4 RPG in 11.5 minutes per contest.

O’Bryant has been out of the league since 2018, having spent the last several seasons playing for teams in Europe. He won an Israeli League championship with Maccabi Tel Aviv in 2019 and a Serbian Cup title with Crvena Zvezda in 2021. He also spent time with clubs in Russia and Turkey.

An earlier report stated that O’Bryant was competing for a spot on Milwaukee’s regular season roster. It appears that effort was unsuccessful, so it’s not clear what his next move will be. His deal with the team included Exhibit 10 language, so joining the Wisconsin Herd in the G League is one possible option — returning overseas is another.

Nwora Could See More Floor Time

October 9th, 2021 at 12:00pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Forward Jordan Nwora only appeared in 30 regular-season games with the Bucks during his rookie campaign but he’s angling for more playing time this season, Eric Nehm of The Athletic writes. Coach Mike Budenholzer is looking for Nwora, a second-round pick in 2020, to become a more complete player. “I think, defensively, he’s making progress in practice, making progress in the games,” Budenholzer said. “He’s really got to improve on that end, and he’s making steps in the right direction.” Nwora will be a free agent next summer, either restricted if he receives a qualifying offer, or unrestricted.