After limited playing opportunities, the Milwaukee Bucks have requested waivers on forward Terrence Jones.
It’s been an eventful few months for Terrence Jones, but he’s not going to have many meaningful memories about his time on the court with the Milwaukee Bucks.
Having played only three games and a total of six minutes in total for Milwaukee, the team announced they’ve requested waivers on the 25-year-old via a short statement on their website on Saturday.
"“The Milwaukee Bucks have requested waivers on forward Terrence Jones, General Manager John Hammond announced today.”More from Bucks NewsBucks 2023-24 player profile: Can MarJon Beauchamp take a leap?Piecing together the Milwaukee Bucks’ dream starting 5 in 5 yearsPredicting Thanasis Antetokounmpo’s 2023-24 stats for the BucksGrade the trade: Bucks land reputable backup guard in swap with PacersNew workout video should have Milwaukee Bucks fans excited"
Jones had been having a productive season with the New Orleans Pelicans prior to the team’s trade for DeMarcus Cousins. In the aftermath of that transaction, the Pelicans agreed to waive Jones so he could pursue further opportunities ahead of his impending free agency.
The Bucks obliged Jones with a contract until the end of the season, which was signed on March 2. Unfortunately for the player, the Bucks certainly didn’t give him any greater opportunity to showcase his talents.
Although Jones will forever be able to say he was a part of the winningest month of Bucks basketball since February 1971, he found himself rooted firmly to the bench.
So, the question many Bucks fans are left asking is why was Jones signed to begin with?
That hasn’t always been clear over the past few weeks, but the answer seemed to become much more apparent with the timing of Milwaukee’s decision to request waivers on the Oregon native.
Jones was signed following Jabari Parker‘s torn ACL, but in even closer proximity to the hyperextended knee suffered by Michael Beasley on February 28. Although the official line from the organization in the aftermath of Beasley’s injury was that he’d miss “at least three games“, the former second overall pick would eventually miss 17 games before returning in Friday night’s win over the Pistons.
Does that mean Beasley’s injury was always a little more serious than we were led to believe and there were real concerns over him coming back at all this season? It certainly seems possible.
As a result, it seems the only reason for Jones’ signing was to provide cover for Giannis Antetokounmpo and Mirza Teletovic.
From Milwaukee’s perspective, it’s difficult to question him now being viewed as expendable with Beasley back in action. From Jones’ point of view, he’s probably within his rights to feel disappointed not only by the limited opportunity offered by Milwaukee, but also the fact that being waived this late means he’s ineligible for the playoffs even if he signs elsewhere.
For the Bucks, the roster now stands at 14 including the injured Jabari Parker. Milwaukee has the opportunity to sign a 15th player, but will only be able to pick from those who have been free agents since March 1 at the latest, if they wish to have them contribute in the playoffs.
As Bobby Marks of The Vertical recently explained:
"“March 1 is the last day a player can be waived and still be eligible to play in the postseason.A player can sign with a team after March 1 and still be eligible for the playoffs as long as he was waived by that date.”"
Next: Milwaukee Bucks: Player Power Rankings (March 23-March 29)
Considering how confident the Bucks have looked of late, they may decide not to do anything to disrupt chemistry, but if they were to look for an addition expect Milwaukee to go the route of a point guard considering the lack of depth at that spot.