As the Milwaukee Bucks continue to prepare for training camp, their latest reported transactions include signing Ike Nwamu and waiving Travis Trice.
UPDATE: Brandon McCoy and Jordan Barnett were also reportedly waived earlier in the week, with Robert Johnson and James Young signed to deals in their place.
With training camp almost upon us, the shape of the Milwaukee Bucks’ roster seems to remain in a state of flux.
Tyler Zeller‘s non-guaranteed contract and a center log-jam leaves the Bucks with a clear and obvious route to adding a player at a position of greater need before the season begins, yet brief training camp deals also offer an important opportunity in securing rights and convincing players to commit to play in the G League with the Wisconsin Herd next season.
On that front, it appears the Bucks are continuing to explore their options and execute whatever plan they may have in place, as reports on Wednesday indicated a set of two corresponding transactions that could signal a busy week or so for Milwaukee.
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According to a report from Keith Smith of RealGM, the Bucks have waived recent USA Basketball contributor Travis Trice in order to make room for a training camp deal for 25-year-old wing Ike Nwamu.
With the Wisconsin Herd recently having acquired Trice’s returning rights via trade with the Westchester Knicks, the decision to waive the point guard, who also impressed with the Summer League Bucks squad, was not a surprise. In essence, it’s all a part of the process of securing G League rights, as the Bucks took a similar approach with Xavier Munford, last year’s Herd standout, in 2017-18 training camp.
Nwamu, who spent the majority of last season playing with the Miami Heat affiliated Sioux Fall Skyforce, could also end up following a similar path if he impresses the Bucks and they can negotiate a trade for his returning rights in the days to come.
In fact, his stay with the Bucks being a short one seems all but certain considering the Bucks have other transactions yet to be made official.
Told this afternoon, as it has been all along, the Bucks still intend to sign Tim Frazier, Shabazz Muhammad and Christian Wood. It will happen after Milwaukee clears space on the roster, as they are currently at the offseason max of 20 players. https://t.co/HEYqlIuKEs
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) September 19, 2018
The additions of Muhammad and Wood to the training camp squad have been reported, even if they have yet to be made official, while Tim Frazier, who spent last season with the Washington Wizards, may have been spotted by eagle-eyed fans in a recent photo of the team attending a Kevin Hart show at Fiserv Forum.
As Nwamu reportedly comes into the mix, he joins Jordan Barnett and Brandon McCoy as players who are most likely set for Oshkosh next season, if they opt to sign a deal with the G League.
Nwamu’s college career was eventful in terms of transfers, yet it concluded at UNLV, where he spent a single season before going undrafted in 2016.
In the time since, Nwamu has completed two full seasons in Sioux Falls, where last season he averaged 14.4 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.0 steals per game, while shooting 42.2 percent from the field and 36.4 percent from deep.
Also notable is the fact that Nwamu, who is one of the most explosive backcourt athletes at the G League level, put on a show by notching up 31 points on a trip to Menominee Nation Arena to face the Herd last season.
Expect further transactions over the next couple of weeks as Milwaukee looks to maximize their options for the Herd, while also taking a look at players who could really help the Bucks in the NBA during the upcoming season.