While he sits in the limbo that is free agency, Jason Terry won a teammate of the year award on Friday for his time with the Milwaukee Bucks last season.
Now that Michael Beasley is a New York Knick, the Milwaukee Bucks last piece of unfinished business this summer is Jason Terry. Milwaukee does not have to re-sign JET–on the contrary, the Bucks currently cannot do so because the team doesn’t have a roster spot.
Milwaukee could swap out Gary Payton II for Terry, and it’s also possible that the Bucks are waiting on some sort of other move to either clear cap room or maybe even acquire Kyrie Irving before the team brings JET back. None of this is news; all of it has been covered here before.
What is news, however, is a demonstration of Terry’s value right in front of the Bucks eyes. The National Basketball Players Association gave out their Players Voice awards on Friday, and who could get the Bucks award for Teammate of the Year besides Jason Terry.
EAST
— NBPA (@TheNBPA) August 18, 2017
The teammate with the biggest impact on and off the court. Check out the #PlayersVoice Award winners for Best Teammate. pic.twitter.com/F1UFnt6Qdu
As the above tweet states, the award was given for the player with the biggest impact both on and off the court, and was voted on by the players. In case there was anyone somehow doubting the energy and chemistry boost JET brings to the Bucks, they can stop with that now.
The Bucks sent out a congratulatory tweet, as did Terry. Milwaukee tweeting about JET is not surprising, considering he’s been featured in GIFs and videos the Bucks social media shared during dry news spells this summer. JET’s reaction to winning was nice, though.
It's always been about team first. Thank you @nbpa and all my @Bucks teammates for this award #PlayersVoice #18yrvet https://t.co/7BGDMHRxY1
— Jason "The Jet" Terry (@jasonterry31) August 18, 2017
Although he’ll be 40 before the 2017-18 NBA season starts, there’s no doubting that Terry played an important role for the Bucks in his age 39 season. JET wasn’t asked to score a lot of points, and he didn’t, but in his second-best shooting season ever Terry nailed 42.7 percent of his threes, and missed just eight games all season.
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That’s really all just gravy, compared to what Terry accomplishes as a teammate and energizer. Nobody could get the BMO Harris Bradley Center rocking like JET could last season, and his jump onto the scorer’s table was a legendary moment Bucks fans who saw it won’t soon forget.
Honestly if Terry doesn’t end up making it back to Milwaukee’s roster, the Bucks should fight like hell to recruit him as an assistant coach. Although JET has hosted a successful–and sometimes controversial, to Carmelo Anthony fans–radio show on Sirius XM, he seems more interested in going into coaching than broadcasting.
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With some turnover in Milwaukee’s front office, it can’t be too hard to find a spot for Terry on the bench. His clutch threes and scorer’s table jumps would be missed, but assistant coach Jason Terry might be a perfect fit for the Milwaukee Bucks going forward.