Milwaukee Bucks: Grades for Semi Ojeleye’s one-year deal

After some of the early free agent madness involving the likes of Bobby Portis and P.J. Tucker had settled, the Milwaukee Bucks brought in an interesting veteran.

First reported by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Bucks have agreed to a one-year contract with former Boston Celtics forward Semi Ojeleye. As many initially speculated, the deal is reportedly worth a minimum salary contract, which was soon after confirmed by The Athletic’s Eric Nehm.

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Ojeleye has spent all four years of his career with the Celtics after being selected by them in the second round (37th overall) in the 2017 NBA Draft.

He was always a player that Celtics fans had high hopes for and cemented himself as a favorite of Brad Stevens when he was the head coach. Yet, he never quite put it together consistently, although he did post a career-high 24 points this past season against the Toronto Raptors, shooting 6-of-8 from deep and leading the team in scoring.

For his career, however, the 26-year-old averaged 3.5 points and 2.1 rebounds. This isn’t a flashy signing by any means, but Ojeleye is someone who could find his niche on the defensive end with the Bucks. With that being said, let us take a look at everything there is to be known about this signing.

What is the financial value of Semi Ojeleye’s deal for the Milwaukee Bucks?

It would have been a shock if the Bucks signed Ojeleye for more than the minimum, so they’ve already done a good job on that front.

With this move falling under the minimum slot, the Bucks still have yet to touch any of their taxpayer mid-level exception, which is 5.9 million that can be used all at once for one player or split up for multiple. They also managed to re-sign Portis using his Non-Bird rights, meaning that the option is still intact. Excluding that exception, the rest of the roster will need to be filled out by players on minimum contracts, like Ojeleye.

This could be a good bit of bargain-hunting by the Bucks, the same being said with the breaking news that they have signed Rodney Hood, as Ojeleye has played a decent role on Celtics teams that have gone deep into the playoffs. Ojeleye has played in 38 career playoff games, starting three, and averaged 10.5 minutes. He won’t come in and be a world-beater, but getting a potential rotation player, at 26 years old, on a minimum contract is a solid signing.