Move was first reported on in August
In a case of news you’d already heard somewhere, but never got official confirmation on, Philip Alston is indeed signing an Exhibit 10 deal with the Milwaukee Bucks (per Keith Smith of Sportrac):
The Milwaukee Bucks have signed forward Philip Alston to an Exhibit 10 contract.
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) September 18, 2024
This contract was first reported on back in early August (we even wrote about it back then!) after Alston had come off a stint with the Bucks Summer League Team. He appeared in just three games with the exhibition outfit, averaging 12.3 minutes, 4.7 points (.500/.250/.750), 2.3 rebounds, and an assist. In short, he was on the court. Here’s a dunk highlight that I am deftly stealing from Jackson’s piece from back in August:
Philip Alston has agreed to an Exhibit-10 contract with the Milwaukee Bucks, I’m told.
Saw his role expand over the course of NBA Summer League, culminating with a strong performance (11 PTS, 5 REB, 2 AST, 1 STL, game-high +14) as a starter against the Wizards. https://t.co/aqFTzcLd3h pic.twitter.com/OzJSq1zocy
— Jon Chepkevich (@JonChep) August 2, 2024
He’s an interesting prospect out of Chicago’s Loyola University who had to overcome a health scare in 2019 before working his way up from D-II college ball to the D-I level. When his name was first floated as part of the SL roster I noted that he immediately became Loyola’s leading scorer and rebounder upon transferring, but that he was also rough around enough edges to make it understandable why he may have gone undrafted.
The stint in Vegas did little to dispel the notion that he brings a lot of physical tools and also has a long way to go in refining his skillset to become even a nominal NBA player. Still, a wing with size and upside is worth taking a shot on, so the Bucks have handed Alston an Exhibit 10 deal to bring him to training camp and bring their preseason roster to its full 21 player complement.
As noted in both the earlier Alston piece and our article on Ibou Badji signing (and waiving, in the case of Badji) these guys to Exhibit 10 deals helps qualify them for a slightly increased payday should they reach 60 days of service with the Wisconsin Herd this year. Machinations of the deep bench and affiliate team are complex, but you can think of this as the NBA equivalent of calling dibs and doing minor league prospects a financial solid with near-zero impact on the Bucks cashflow.
Barring any final shuffling, this is the group who will come to Milwaukee as part of training camp in a few weeks:
- 15 full-roster players – Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton, Damian Lillard, Brook Lopez, Gary Trent Jr., Bobby Portis, Delon Wright, Taurean Prince, Pat Connaughton, AJ Green, Andre Jackson Jr., MarJon Beauchamp, Chris Livingston, AJ Johnson, Tyler Smith
- Three two-way players – Ryan Rollins, Stanley Umude, Anžejs Pasečņiks
- Three Exhibit 10 players – James Akinjo, Philip Alston, Liam Robbins