Former lottery pick to become a full-time member of the Milwaukee Bucks G League affiliate
In an intriguing bit of breaking news, the Milwaukee Bucks (read: Wisconsin Herd) have taken on the G League contract for guard Dennis Smith Jr.:
After entering the @nbagleague player pool for this week’s G League Showcase in Orlando, former NBA lottery pick Dennis Smith Jr. has been claimed by the Wisconsin Herd, league sources say.
More NBA from me: https://t.co/jkBEbr4mcX https://t.co/FyOGqxFLTv
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) December 19, 2024
Smith is a 27 year-old, 6’2” point guard who was originally selected ninth overall by the Dallas Mavericks in the 2017 NBA Draft. In seven years of NBA experience he has bounced around the league a bit with stints as a Knick, Piston, Trail Blazer, Hornet, and Net alongside his one and a half seasons as a Mav. His career averages sit at 9.7 points (.407/.298/.674), 3.6 assists, 2.9 rebounds, and 1.2 steals.
Smith’s rookie campaign garnered him fifth-place in Rookie of the Year voting (69 appearances for 15.2 points, 5.2 assists, and 3.8 rebound), he kept up a commensurate level of production in year two, and then has gradually fallen out of favor from there at most stops along the way. There was a brief resurgence in 2022-2023 with Charlotte and 2023-2024 with Brooklyn as he featured in 54 and 56 games in each season, respectively. Still, the past few years have been a series of one-off minimum contracts that never translated into a long-term home.
Having failed to sign up with a NBA roster last summer and with no calls in the offing, Smith looks to have gone the G League route to stay fresh. G League contracts work slightly differently from their NBA equivalents in that a player signs a deal with the league and not individual teams. The Herd would have had primacy over other teams in exercising and taking on Smith’s players rights to bring him to Oshkosh. In the very technical sense, Smith is not signed to the Bucks or the Herd, but rather to the league.
An important thing to note is that this is not a two-way contract. Those deals are limited to players with fewer than four years professional experience, so Smith cannot be called up to the Bucks at whim. His only path to Milwaukee now or in the near future is via the opening up of a full roster slot which could be then used to sign him to a minimum. Of course, that path is available to all 30 NBA teams; just because Smith is with the Herd does not mean the organization gets right of first refusal. If he should play extremely well in a short stint with the Herd it’s possible a rival NBA front office could try and pick him up.
All in all this is an interesting bit of roster minutiae that could pay dividends down the road. With Ryan Rollins potentially still ailing from a shoulder injury he’s trying to play through, an unknown path to playing time for the likes of Delon Wright, and the general need all NBA teams have for competent ball handlers, this could be a low-level ace in the hole for GM Jon Horst & Co. Smith will be playing within Milwaukee’s wider system even at the G League level and the coaching staff can monitor his progress in-person.
As far as finding fringe NBA talent on the margins goes, this looks like a nice bet. We wish Dennis Smith Jr. success in Oshkosh in the meantime!