Milwaukee Bucks: Getting to know two-way player Axel Toupane
Saturday night brought the return of a familiar face for the Milwaukee Bucks.
After having waived Jaylen Adams from his two-way contract earlier this month, the Bucks have since filled that slot by bringing back on veteran forward Axel Toupane on such a deal. While they had reportedly agreed to a deal with Myles Powell, the Bucks had never signed him to a deal, which paved the way for the Bucks to bring Toupane back to the organization.
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Having had a cup of coffee with the Bucks midway through the 2016-17 season where he appeared in a pair of games, Toupane has grinded across various settings both stateside and overseas, all in search for a lasting look in the NBA.
Whether that will come to fruition on his latest stop in Milwaukee remains to be seen, but let’s explore the journey that Axel Toupane has taken and how fits with this iteration of the Milwaukee Bucks.
Axel Toupane grinded in the G League before his first stint with the Milwaukee Bucks.
While Toupane had turned pro in 2011 playing for Strasbourg in France and had gone undrafted in the 2014 NBA Draft, it wasn’t until Toupane’s first foray into the G League during the 2015-16 season where he started to garner NBA buzz.
Playing for Raptors 905 in what was then the D-League, Toupane emerged as a prospect of note and eventually was named that year’s G League Most Improved Player. That all eventually led to the French international earning a look from the Denver Nuggets near the end of that campaign by signing a pair of 10-day contracts that eventually morphed into a non-guaranteed, multi-year deal.
Toupane’s stint with the Nuggets ended in the lead up to the 2016-17 season where he then returned back to the Raptors 905 where he continued to hone his skill set with the Toronto Raptors’ affiliate. With improved counting stats with the 905 as he averaged 16.1 points on .463/.346/.806 shooting, 4.1 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.1 steals in 36 appearances, that led to Toupane’s call up with the Bucks in late February of 2017.
After a pair of appearances, Toupane’s 10-day contract with the Bucks expired without garnering on a new 10-day deal. Toupane then returned back again to the 905 where he eventually won a D-League championship and earned All-NBA D-League third team honors.
Toupane then finished that season with yet another brief stint, this time with the New Orleans Pelicans on a non-guaranteed deal, but was eventually waived again going into that year’s offseason.