Milwaukee Bucks reportedly waive point guard Brandon Jennings

In a rather unsurprising move, the Milwaukee Bucks have reportedly elected to waive veteran point guard Brandon Jennings ahead of his salary guaranteeing for next year.

With the number of free agent additions and only one departure set in stone, that being forward Jabari Parker, it has been clear for some time that the Milwaukee Bucks would have to part ways with someone near the latter end of their roster.

That ramped up with the now-official addition of fourth-year sharpshooting wing Pat Connaughton, who the Bucks brought on a two-year, partially guaranteed deal late last week.

As it unsurprisingly turns out, that roster casualty turns out to be point guard Brandon Jennings, who the Bucks are reportedly waiving ahead of his $2.3 million salary for next season guaranteeing at midnight tonight/tomorrow night, according to Yahoo Sports’ Shams Charania as well as Matt Velazquez of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Of course, it was exactly a month ago when the Bucks decided to push back Jennings’ guarantee date to the beginning of August after it originally had been set for July 1. That was not before a firestorm of confusion was set off where it originally looked like the Bucks were keeping the 28-year-old ahead of his initial guarantee date on the opening day of this year’s free agency.

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With this move, this obviously brings a close to Jennings’ unlikely return back to the organization, which all started with the team’s G League affiliate, the Wisconsin Herd.

After seven appearances with the Herd, Jennings got the call up to the Bucks back on March 11 as he signed his first 10-day contract in order to shore up the team’s point guard depth with both Malcolm  Brogdon and Matthew Dellavedova sidelined by injury at that point in the year.

While his re-debut with the Bucks proved to be absolutely surreal as he nearly logged a triple-double in 24 minutes of play coming off the bench in a 121-103 win over the Memphis Grizzlies, Jennings failed to expand on that spark throughout the remainder of the regular season.

In total, Jennings put up 5.2 points on shooting splits of .375/.273/1.000, along with 3.1 assists and 2.2 rebounds in his 14 appearances with the Bucks last season as well as logged a five-minute cameo at the end of Game 3 in the Bucks’ first round series against the Boston Celtics.

Where this leaves Jennings as it relates to his playing future is a curious one and it certainly leaves him at a similar crossroads to where he was a little more than a year ago before locking down a deal to play in China with the Shanxi Brave Dragons.

Jennings’ has talked at length, most notably in a profile by The Ringer’s Jordan Ritter Conn from earlier this year, about how his second stint overseas was fruitful for him both mentally and physically after his career turned sideways following his Achilles’ tear during a January 2015 tilt against the Bucks during his days with the Detroit Pistons.

Unfortunately for Jennings, his best bet to potentially land back in the NBA once again might be during the middle of the season next year should he wow a team after another stint somewhere overseas or possibly in the G League.

As for the Bucks, their roster now stands at 19 if you include both two-way players in Trevon Duval and Jaylen Morris as well as Brandon McCoy and Travis Trice, who have both officially signed training camp deals with the team. For those wondering, teams can carry a maximum 20 players on their roster heading into training camp.

In any event, the book has officially closed on Jennings’ unlikely homecoming to Milwaukee and with that, the best of luck goes out to him as he continues to sort out the next step in his basketball journey.