Preseason may be all wrapped up but the Milwaukee Bucks continue to make moves that will likely bolster the Wisconsin Herd, such as signing Trevor Lacey.
The Milwaukee Bucks concluded their preseason slate with a comfortable win over the Minnesota Timberwolves late on Thursday night, but their night’s work didn’t quite end there, although you could be forgiven if you hadn’t noticed.
Announcements don’t get much more low-key than a tweet after 11pm local time on a Thursday night, but that’s exactly how the Bucks revealed the signing of Trevor Lacey.
The Bucks have signed guard Trevor Lacey.
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) October 18, 2019
Lacey, 27, played the last two seasons in Russia with Lokomotiv Kuban after starting his professional career in the Italian League in 2015.
He played collegiately at Alabama (2011-13) and North Carolina State (2014-15). pic.twitter.com/Y84nWgcqRw
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Lacey will almost certainly have agreed to an Exhibit 10 contract, more colloquially known as training camp deals, such as the ones which Jaylen Adams and Luke Maye were waived from on Monday, and that Rayjon Tucker will likely be waived from, before Monday’s deadline.
As things stand, based on a strong preseason, it seems all but certain that Dragan Bender will hang on to the Bucks’ final roster spot heading into the regular season.
By 5pm ET on Monday, all NBA teams will have to cut their roster to just 15 players, outside of those on two-way contracts. That means Lacey’s time as a Buck looks set to be incredibly short in official terms, although his stay with the organization could be much longer.
Much of the motivation surrounding Exhibit 10 deals for NBA teams is that it gives organizations the G League player rights for players who were a part of their training camp roster. It doesn’t guarantee that those players will suit up for the G League affiliate, particularly as more lucrative offers can still draw them overseas, but if they do sign a contract with the G League, their rights then defer to the affiliate of the squad that last held their NBA rights.
This makes it very likely that joining two-way players Frank Mason III and Cameron Reynolds in Oshkosh with the Wisconsin Herd this season could be Adams, Maye, Tucker, and now Lacey.
Lacey, who just recently turned 28 (in spite of what the above Bucks’ tweet says), may be familiar to U.S. fans from his time in college with both Alabama and NC State.
In his final season in college, Lacey averaged a solid 15.7 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game with the Wolfpack, while shooting 39.2 percent from deep on 5.7 attempts per game. All of that combined for Lacey to be named as a Second Team All-ACC pick from the media, and a Third Team All-ACC pick among coaches, as he led NC State to the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16 round.
Since then, Lacey has carved out a steady career as a role player overseas spending two seasons in Italy, before joining Russia’s Lokomotiv Kuban for the last two years. Lacey shot over 40 percent from deep in each of his seasons in Russia, and could bring similar marksmanship to the G League.
The chance to prove his skill closer to home may yet result in larger opportunities cropping up for Lacey, but for now this looks like another potentially solid addition for the Wisconsin Herd.