After surprisingly waiving DeAndre’ Bembry on Thursday, it was only a matter of time before the Milwaukee Bucks filled their open roster spot.
As first reported by The Athletic’s Shams Charania, the Bucks have signed forward Rayjon Tucker to a multi-year contract. Yahoo! Sports’ Chris Haynes added that it is a three-year deal but did not provide the financial specifics. Yet, those should surface with time. Milwaukee’s retooled roster stands at 15 players with two regular season games to play, as this will likely be the last tweak before the 2022 NBA Playoffs begin in the near future.
Reactions to the Milwaukee Bucks signing Wisconsin Herd’s Rayjon Tucker
If the name Rayjon Tucker sounds familiar, it is because the 24-year-old has spent considerable time with the Wisconsin Herd, Milwaukee’s G-League affiliate, over the last few years. Tucker has been a key piece to the Herd’s success, and it is great to see the Bucks reward him by bringing him up to fill their roster spot, given the work he has put in with the Herd over the years.
While Tucker will not be a game-changing signing, he is unquestionably an interesting player to bring aboard. In 35 games with the Herd this year, Tucker averaged 20.4 points on 53.1 percent field goal shooting while tallying 8.4 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 1.2 steals per game. Scoring the basketball is Tucker’s bread and butter, but he is also more than capable of facilitating to get his teammates involved in the action while bringing some sturdy defense. That means he checks all the boxes for the Milwaukee Bucks, and Tucker will be a solid acquisition to this second unit.
The Bucks will be Tucker’s fourth NBA team as he has logged previous stints with the Utah Jazz, Philadelphia 76ers, and, most recently, the Denver Nuggets. He is still looking to carve out a role for himself in this league, and perhaps the Bucks will be the franchise to give him the opportunity. As noted by Haynes, it is a three-year deal, and although some of those may be non-guaranteed, the Bucks saw something they liked enough to hand the young forward such a deal. He will be an incredibly interesting player to follow with the Bucks as he looks to make a name for himself on the defending NBA Champions.
Bucks’ general manager Jon Horst has been incredibly busy over the past few days, from waiving DeAndre’ Bembry to signing Luca Vildoza to now bringing on one of their own in Rayjon Tucker. The former Executive of the Year seemingly never sleeps as he is constantly looking to shape up the roster in some capacity, and time will tell if this latest move pays dividends down the line.
For now, congrats on the deserved call-up, Rayjon!
It will be interesting to see whether Tucker gets any burn with the Bucks tonight as they take on the Detriot Pistons on the second night of a back-to-back. Be sure to keep an eye out at 6:00 p.m. CST on Bally Sports Wisconsin or NBA TV.