Milwaukee Bucks: Reactions to bringing back Elijah Bryant for camp

The Milwaukee Bucks have added another name to their training camp roster as they return to normalcy ahead of preseason action.

As first reported by The Athletic’s Eric Nehm, the Bucks have signed Elijah Bryant to a camp deal. It will essentially be like Bryant never left as he spent the entire postseason with the team, having won a championship in his lone season. This news comes just a few short days after Bryant was waived by the Bucks, but it appears that they never intended for him to get one foot out the door.

The Bucks clearly like what they see in Bryant, and it dates back several years. It started when he joined them in the 2019 Summer League. When the guard was playing overseas last season with Maccabi Tel Aviv, they paid a $500,000 fee to secure his buyout and sign him. Now they will be bringing him in for training camp, and who knows how things will progress from there. It is only a camp deal, so this is not groundbreaking news, as the team is bringing in a familiar face to fill out the roster ahead of the new season.

The Milwaukee Bucks are seemingly high on Elijah Bryant after his brief stint with the team during the 2020-21 season.

Having come over late in the regular season, Bryant appeared in one game for the Bucks before the playoffs, and it was on the last night of the season. With Milwaukee sitting a good portion of their roster in preparation for the postseason, Bryant saw a big role off the bench that night, and he put up a solid line with 16 points, six rebounds, and three assists. The Bucks lost 118-112 to a Divisional rival in the Chicago Bulls, but the guard proved to be a bright spot.

Head coach Mike Budenholzer did play Bryant briefly in the playoffs, notably versus the top-heavy Brooklyn Nets in round two after the injury to Donte DiVincenzo. However, he failed to make much of an impact and averaged just 4.5 minutes per game across 11 of Milwaukee’s 23 playoff games in that run. Averaging 1.5 points and shooting 35 percent from the field during his limited minutes, it was difficult for the guard to prove he belonged in the rotation.

At 26-years-old, Bryant is still relatively young, and this team must see something special in him. Perhaps they want their money’s worth after having bought the guard out last season, but it is said that he also left a very strong impression on the team during his Summer League stint back in the day, and perhaps that has played into the decision to keep him around as well. Only those in-house know the answer to that, but the writing is on the wall that they are high on him.

With this being a camp deal, only time will tell if Bryant can impress to make his way back onto the 2021-22 roster. He faces competition with former Buck Johnny O’Bryant III and Tremont Waters, but his previous experience playing with this iteration of the Bucks could bode well for his chances to make the cut.

Only time will tell if Bryant makes the cut.