- Khris Middleton could become a free agent as soon as next summer if he turns down a $40MM+ player option for 2023/24. While he’s not sure how his contract situation will play out, the standout wing tells Jim Owczarski of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he wants to stay with the Bucks long-term. “I think everybody knows that. Even though I know you’re really not supposed to say it for all the reasons out there, but I think everybody knows deep down that I want to stay,” Middleton said. “But also, you know it’s a business. Things change, things happen. You just never know. For sure I would love to stay, if everything works out.”
- Eric Nehm of The Athletic poses a series of questions for Bucks players to answer this season, including whether Grayson Allen‘s playoff struggles vs. Boston were a fluke or a harbinger of things to come.
10:16am: As expected, Bolden received an Exhibit 10 contract, tweets Eric Nehm of The Athletic.
7:36am: The Bucks have signed free agent center Marques Bolden to a contract, according to the NBA transaction log at RealGM and the team’s official website.
While the terms of the deal aren’t known, it’s almost certainly a non-guaranteed training camp contract, likely with an Exhibit 10 clause. Milwaukee has been shuffling players on and off its roster within the last week as the club prepares for training camp and lines up players for its G League affiliate, the Wisconsin Herd.
Bolden, 24, has spent most of his professional career in the G League since going undrafted out of Duke in 2019. In 69 career appearances for the Cavaliers’ and Jazz’s NBAGL affiliates, he has averaged 10.2 PPG, 7.4 RPG, and 1.6 BPG in 23.1 minutes per contest.
The big man also spent time in the NBA with Cleveland from 2019-21, first on a 10-day contract and later on a two-way deal, playing a very limited role in seven games for the Cavs.
It’s unclear if Bolden will remain on the Bucks’ roster for training camp next week or if the team plans to waive him before then and have him eventually suit up for the Herd. For now, his G League returning rights are held by the Salt Lake City Stars, Utah’s affiliate, so a trade would be required for Wisconsin to acquire those rights.
The Bucks currently have 19 players under contract.
The Bucks have waived undrafted rookie Ibou Badji, JD Shaw of Hoops Rumors tweets.
Badji was signed on Monday to an Exhibit 10 contract. Badji will be eligible for a bonus worth up to $50K if he spends at least 60 days with the Wisconsin Herd, Milwaukee’s G League affiliate.
Badji, who turns 20 next month, spent the 2021/22 season with Forca Lleida CE of the LEB Oro, Spain’s second league. In 37 games (19.9 MPG) last season, the Senegalese center averaged 8.2 PPG, 4.2 RPG and 1.2 BPG, according to his NBA.com draft profile.
The Bucks have waived combo guard Iverson Molinar, according to NBA.com’s official transactions log.
Molinar, who went undrafted out of Mississippi State, signed an Exhibit 10 contract with the Bucks after averaging 17.5 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 3.6 APG and 1.2 SPG on .454/.252/.868 shooting in 34 games (34.1 MPG) as a junior in 2021/22. He also played for Milwaukee’s Las Vegas Summer League squad in July.
A member of last season’s All-SEC First Team, Molinar appears likely to spend his first professional season with the Wisconsin Herd, the Bucks’ G League affiliate. His Exhibit 10 contract will put him in line for a bonus worth $50K if he spends at least 60 days with the Herd as an affiliate player.
Molinar will likely team up in Wisconsin with Alex Antetokounmpo and Rob Edwards, who have also been signed and waived by the Bucks within the last week.
Following Molinar’s release, Milwaukee now has 19 players officially under contract. Restricted free agent Jordan Nwora still doesn’t have a new deal in place with training camps right around the corner.
The Bucks have signed undrafted rookie Ibou Badji to an Exhibit 10 contract, league sources tell our JD Shaw (Twitter link).
Badji, who turns 20 next month, spent the 2021/22 season with Forca Lleida CE of the LEB Oro, Spain’s second league. In 37 games (19.9 MPG) last season, the Senegalese center averaged 8.2 PPG, 4.2 RPG and 1.2 BPG, according to his NBA.com draft profile.
The Bucks have also signed undrafted rookie Iverson Molinar to an Exhibit 10 deal, Hoops Rumors has learned. The news of his signing was first reported back in June, but wasn’t official until now.
In 34 games (34.1 MPG) as a junior for Mississippi State last season, the Panamanian guard averaged 17.5 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 3.6 APG and 1.2 SPG on .454/.252/.868 shooting. For his efforts, he earned a berth on the All-SEC First Team.
Hoops Rumors can also confirm that Alex Antetokounmpo, who was recently waived by the Bucks, received an Exhibit 10 deal.
Exhibit 10 deals, which are non-guaranteed, would make Badji and Molinar eligible for a bonus worth up to $50K if they’re waived before the season starts and spend at least 60 days with the Wisconsin Herd, Milwaukee’s G League affiliate.
The Bucks waived forward Alex Antetokounmpo on Saturday shortly after signing him to a contract, according to the official transaction log at NBA.com.
Antetokounmpo, the brother of Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo, went undrafted in 2021 and spent last season coming off the bench and playing limited minutes for the Raptors 905, Toronto’s G League affiliate. He previously played for UCAM Murcia in Spain during the 2020/21 season.
Only Antetokounmpo’s release – not his signing – shows up on NBA.com’s transaction log, which strongly suggests he received an Exhibit 10 contract, since Exhibit 10 signings aren’t listed on NBA.com’s log. An Exhibit 10 deal would make him eligible for a bonus worth up to $50K if he spends at least 60 days with the Wisconsin Herd, the Bucks’ G League affiliate.
Because Antetokounmpo played for the Raptors 905 last season, they would typically hold his returning rights, but they traded those rights to the Herd in July, paving the way for the 21-year-old to play in Wisconsin in 2022/23.
Antetokounmpo is the second player to be signed and quickly waived by the Bucks in the last week, as they begin lining up players for the Herd’s roster. Rob Edwards was the other one.
- Unlike most of their competitors in the East, the Bucks didn’t make major changes this offseason and can rely on continuity as they make a run at another NBA title, per Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype. Milwaukee still has the defensive foundation to contend for a championship, Gozlan adds, and Giannis Antetokounmpo remains one of the best players in the world. One financial concern that Gozlan points out is that the Bucks appear destined for the repeater tax next season, while Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez will both become unrestricted free agents in July if they don’t receive extensions.
- Eric Nehm of The Athletic examines six Bucks players who have the most to prove this season. Milwaukee won the championship in 2020/21, but the team was unable to overcome Khris Middleton‘s injury in the spring and lost to the Celtics in seven games during last year’s playoffs. The team remains a force, headlined by two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, Middleton, Jrue Holiday, Brook Lopez, Bobby Portis and others.
The Bucks signed and waived guard Rob Edwards, according to RealGM.
The purpose for signing Edwards to an Exhibit 10 deal and then waiving him was to ensure he’ll get a $50K bonus if he spends at least 60 days with the Wisconsin Herd, Milwaukee’s G League affiliate. The Herd acquired Edwards’ returning rights in a trade with the Oklahoma City Blue earlier this month.
Edwards signed with and appeared in two NBA games for the Thunder last season under the hardship exception during the wave of COVID that struck the league in late December. In 32 G League games for the OKC Blue, Edwards averaged 13.3 PPG and 4.4 RPG. He shot 34.4% from 3-point range.
Edwards went undrafted in 2020 out of Arizona State.
Pat Connaughton believes he could have gotten more money in free agency but he wanted to stay with the Bucks. That’s why he exercised his contract option this summer before signing an extension, Eric Nehm of The Athletic writes.
“I think I have the opportunity to potentially make a little bit more elsewhere, but for me, to prolong my career, how do you keep yourself in a position where they value what I do? I value winning,” he said. “I value my teammates and the culture that we’ve built, the organization, the management, the ownership, all of it.”
Connaughton, who received a three-year extension worth $28.3MM in July, added that the team is hungry after getting bounced in the second round of the playoffs by the Celtics last season.
“I think we have a group of guys that are excited to get back out there and excited to play with a chip on our shoulder and not have that same taste in our mouths,” he said. “It’s one of those things where I’ll never forget sitting in Boston after Game 7. You use that as fuel, you use that as hunger and you take a slow, methodical approach to this offseason to making sure you’re putting yourself in the best position to come out on top again.”
We have more from the Central Division:
- The Bulls are expected to be without their starting point guard, Lonzo Ball, in the early portion of the season due to lingering pain in his surgically repaired left knee. ESPN’s Jamal Collier takes an in-depth look at Ball’s knee issues. Ball hasn’t taken the court since mid-January after originally receiving a projected recovery timeline of eight weeks.
- The biggest question regarding Pistons guard Cade Cunningham this season is whether he can develop a consistent 3-point shot, James Edwards III of The Athletic opines. Edwards also considers what second-year forward Isaiah Livers and lottery picks Jaden Ivey and Jalen Duren must prove in order for Detroit to be a surprise team this season.
- In case you missed it, the Pistons officially signed Micah Potter to an Exhibit 10 contract.