The Milwaukee Bucks appear to have put the finishing touches on their roster with a pair of under the radar moves made late Tuesday night.
The first was handing Mamadi Diakite a multi-year contract with the team, which was first reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Jim Owczarski. After going undrafted, Diakite initially signed a two-way contract with the Bucks and showed significant potential in his limited minutes, along with a brief stint down in the NBA’s G-League bubble with the Lakeland Magic.
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With Diakite now locked up on a standard NBA deal, the Bucks opened up a vacant two-way slot and they wasted no time filling it as Owczarski noted they would be using it to sign Justin Jackson.
Jackson’s NBA career has not been able to find much stability throughout his young NBA career by logging stints with the Sacramento Kings, Dallas Mavericks, and most recently the Oklahoma City Thunder throughout his first four years in the association.
Earlier this month, the Thunder recently waived him to clear room on their roster and Milwaukee will now be the fourth stop in his young NBA career. While he might not be a household name, Jackson is a solid option to fill Milwaukee’s previously vacant two-way opening.
What does Justin Jackson provide for the Milwaukee Bucks?
Before being waived, Jackson was having an up-and-down season with the Thunder by averaging 7.2 points on .406/.306/.857 shooting splits, 2.2 rebounds, and 1.5 assists in 16.5 minutes per game.
That was despite battling through inconsistent playing time, oftentimes playing a pivotal role that night or logging a DNP. When he was fortunate enough to see the floor consistently, his production was a mixed bag. Some nights the forward looked unplayable for the Thunder, while others he would put on a masterclass and provide a hefty scoring punch off the bench or in a rare opportunity in the starting lineup.
Sticking with the ladder, Bucks fans should remember Jackson’s heroics from Milwaukee’s crushing 114-109 loss against the Thunder in February where the forward scored a season-high 22 points on 9-of-16 shooting and a perfect 4-of-4 from behind the arc.
As evidenced by his top-notch performance against the Bucks, Jackson can spark some offense, but he has not been able to do it consistently this season. For a Milwaukee team that ranks 21st in bench scoring this season at 34.2 points per game, adding another piece that could potentially contribute offensively does not hurt. Although he is a streaky contributor when it comes to scoring the basketball, the upside is there if the No. 15 overall pick of the 2017 NBA Draft can shake his inconsistencies.
The biggest thing Jackson could do to earn himself for the Bucks would be to find some rhythm with his shooting from behind the arc. Shooting just 32.1 percent from long range for his NBA career, Jackson has not been able to translate the success that he saw during his final year at North Carolina where he knocked down 37 percent of his triples on a whopping 7.1 3-point attempts per game. If he could potentially rekindle some of that sweet-shooting, the Bucks could certainly find him some minutes.
That is the best-case scenario, but it does not seem likely that Jackson will garner much meaningful playing time for Milwaukee. However, this is a move with some upside for the Bucks to shore up their depth before the postseason.