- 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.
- The Bucks are on track to be a taxpayer for the second consecutive season in 2021/22 and could face some tough roster decisions a year from now, according to John Hollinger of The Athletic, who notes that Bobby Portis, Donte DiVincenzo, and Grayson Allen are all on expiring contracts and will be in line for raises on their next deals.
Nearly half of the NBA’s general managers voted for the Heat as the team that had the best 2021 offseason, John Schuhmann of NBA.com writes in his annual survey of the league’s GMs. Miami got 14 of 30 possible votes, while the Lakers picked up five votes. The Nets, Rockets, and Wizards were the other teams picked by multiple GMs as having the best offseason.
The Heat’s acquisition of Kyle Lowry via sign-and-trade helped tip the scales in their favor. Asked which offseason player acquisition will make the biggest impact for his new team this season, GMs overwhelmingly chose Lowry — he received 23 of 30 votes. New Lakers point guard Russell Westbrook was the only other player to get multiple votes (five).
Although the Heat and Lakers received high marks from rival GMs for their work over the summer, neither club is considered the title favorite entering the 2021/22 season. That honor belongs to the Nets, who earned 22 votes from GMs for the team that will win the 2022 Finals. The Lakers (five) and Bucks (three) were the only other teams to receive any votes.
Here are a few more of the most interesting responses from Schuhmann’s GM survey, which is worth checking out in full:
- The Trail Blazers‘ trade for Larry Nance Jr. received the most votes (28%) for the most underrated acquisition of the offseason, with the Nets‘ signing of Patty Mills (17%) and the Wizards‘ addition of Spencer Dinwiddie (14%) also receiving support in that category.
- The NBA’s GMs view Rockets guard Jalen Green (47%) and Pistons guard Cade Cunningham (40%) as the best bets to win Rookie of the Year, but voted Cavaliers big man Evan Mobley as the rookie who will be the best player in five years. Mobley (33%) narrowly edged out Cunningham (30%) and Green (23%) in that category.
- The GMs voted the Magic‘s selection of Jalen Suggs at No. 5 (23%) and the Rockets‘ pick of Alperen Sengun at No. 16 (20%) as the biggest steals of the 2021 draft.
- The Bulls (27%) are considered the best bet to be the most improved team in 2021/22, while Grizzlies forward Jaren Jackson Jr. (17%) received the most support as the top breakout candidate.
- Following their run to the Eastern Conference Finals, the Hawks (50%) were overwhelmingly voted as the team with the best young core. The Rockets received three votes, while no other team got more than two.
- Only two players received multiple votes when GMs were asked which player they’d want to start a franchise with: Mavericks star Luka Doncic (43%) barely beat out Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo (40%).
As expected, veteran big man Pau Gasol announced his retirement as a basketball player today at a press conference in Barcelona.
The third overall pick in the 2001 draft, Gasol began his NBA career with Memphis after playing for Barcelona in Spain from 1998-2001. He won the Rookie of the Year award in his first season and ultimately spent 18 years in the NBA with the Grizzlies, Lakers, Bulls, Spurs, and Bucks, averaging an impressive 17.0 PPG, 9.2 RPG, 3.2 APG, and 1.6 BPG in 1,226 regular season games.
Gasol appeared in another 136 playoff contests, posting 15.4 PPG, 9.2 RPG, 3.2 APG, and 1.7 BPG in those games for the Lakers, Spurs, Grizzlies, and Bulls. The 41-year-old is a six-time All-Star who won a pair of championships with the Lakers in 2009 and 2010, as well as three Olympics medals (two silvers and a bronze) for Spain. He also made the All-NBA team four times.
Gasol last appeared in an NBA game in March 2019, when he briefly played for Milwaukee. Since then, he has undergone multiple surgeries to repair stress fractures in the navicular bone in his left foot, which prevented him from making an NBA comeback — he signed with Portland for the 2019/20 season, but never suited up for the team for health reasons.
However, Gasol was able to return to action for Barcelona this past year, winning a Liga ACB title with the team in 2021 after having won championships in 1999 and 2001 with the club. He also played for Spain in the Tokyo Olympics before officially calling it a career. Following his retirement, Gasol appears on track for eventual enshrinement in the Basketball Hall of Fame.
Although Pau has been out of the league for a couple years, 2021/22 might be the first NBA season since 2000/01 that doesn’t feature at least one Gasol brother. Pau’s younger brother Marc Gasol isn’t currently on an NBA roster and is reportedly considering remaining in Spain this season.
- The Bucks recently brought in Jalen Lecque as part of a free-agent group workout, according to Ian Begley of SNY.tv. Lecque has only appeared in nine NBA games since going undrafted in 2019. He appeared in 14 contests with the Pacers’ G League affiliate last season, averaging 14.3 points per game on 39% shooting. Milwaukee currently has 20 players under contract, the most it’s allowed to have at once.
- Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo acknowledged on Media Day that the knee he injured during last season’s playoffs still isn’t 100%, per Eric Nehm of The Athletic, and he hasn’t been a full participant in the team’s practices so far this week. Asked if there’s a chance Antetokounmpo won’t be ready to play by opening night, head coach Mike Budenholzer replied, “No, I wouldn’t go there. … I would say he’s in a good place and there’s a lot of confidence he’ll be good — and when exactly that is, we hope it’s sooner rather than later” (Twitter links via Nehm)
9:00pm: The Bucks have officially signed O’Bryant, per RealGM’s transactions log.
11:29am: The Bucks are adding another player to their preseason roster, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, who reports (via Twitter) that big man Johnny O’Bryant is rejoining the team on a training camp contract. He worked out for the club earlier in the offseason.
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.
O’Bryant will get the opportunity to compete for a roster spot in Milwaukee, according to Charania. The team currently has 13 players on fully guaranteed contracts, so there could be a path to a spot on the regular season squad for the veteran. However, rookie Georgios Kalaitzakis has a partial guarantee, which probably gives him a leg up to be the 14th man, and the Bucks may not carry a 15th player at the start of the season due to tax concerns.
The Bucks have waived guard Elijah Bryant, according to Eric Nehm of The Athletic (Twitter link). The move brings Milwaukee’s roster count down to 18 players, including a pair of two-way players.
Bryant, 26, signed with the team in May and was part of the club’s championship roster. Despite only appearing in one regular-season game, he saw action in 11 postseason contests, totaling 14 points across 50 minutes.
Before signing with Milwaukee, Bryant played summer league with the team in 2019 and spent time in Israel. He went unselected in the 2018 NBA Draft.
The Bucks also recently waived big man Mamadi Diakite, who was claimed off waivers by the Thunder on Sunday.
- Grayson Allen and Donte DiVincenzo are eligible for rookie scale extensions prior to the start of the season. Bucks GM Jon Horst is hopeful of reaching agreements with both but it’s not necessarily a high priority to get them locked up, he told Eric Nehm of The Athletic. “I don’t think it’s essential that we figure out how to extend them,” he said. “I think it’s a priority to have the discussions, see if there’s any kind of meeting of the minds or any way that we can land a deal with one or both those guys. They’re guys that we value and we like, but if not, they’re both restricted.”
The Bucks have signed Javin DeLaurier to a non-guaranteed training camp contract, per Keith Smith of Spotrac (via Twitter), and waived Mamadi Diakite, per our JD Shaw (Twitter link).
DeLaurier, a 6’10” forward/center, spent four seasons at Duke prior to going undrafted in 2020. Last season he signed an Exhibit 10 training camp contract with the Hornets, was waived, and then played seven games for Hornets’ G League affiliate, the Greensboro Swarm. He most recently played for the Hawks’ Summer League squad. It’s worth noting that he played just 11.1 MPG for the Swarm — roughly in line with his college averages.
Diakite, a 6’9″ forward, played four seasons for Virginia prior to going undrafted in 2020. Diakite signed a two-way contract with the Bucks and put up strong numbers in the G League, averaging 18.5 PPG/ 10.4 RPG/ 2.0 APG/ 2.1 BPG (27.7 MPG) with a .580/.500/.750 shooting line in 12 games for the Lakeland Magic (he was assigned to the Magic because the Bucks’ G League affiliate, the Wisconsin Herd, elected not to participate in the bubble last season). He played in just 14 games for the Bucks but had his two-way contract converted to a standard contract in April.
Diakite had a partial guarantee of $100K that the Bucks will be on the hook for unless he’s claimed off waivers by another team.
The two moves leave the Bucks with 19 players for their training camp roster, with 13 on fully guaranteed contracts. 2021 60th overall pick Georgios Kalaitzakis has a partial guarantee of $462K for the upcoming season, so he might have a leg up on the competition for the 14th spot, but the remainder of his contract is non-guaranteed.