Former Alabama All-American Mark Sears has returned to the Wisconsin Herd of the NBA Gatorade League after being waived by the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks.
The Herd announced Sears’ signing on Saturday, and he had 12 points and seven assists as the starting point guard in a 104-94 loss to the Westchester Knicks on Saturday night. The game was Sears’ first for Wisconsin since he had 19 points and five assists in a 116-98 victory over the College Park Skyhawks on Jan. 5.
The Bucks had waived Sears on Jan. 7 ahead of the NBA’s salary-guarantee deadline. Players on non-guaranteed contracts who were on NBA rosters (or still on waivers) on Jan. 10 had their salaries guaranteed for the remainder of the season.
Although a consensus first-team All-American in the 2024-25 season for the Crimson Tide, Sears went unselected in the NBA Draft and signed with Milwaukee as a rookie free agent in July on a two-way contract.
A two-way contract allows a player to move between an NBA team and its NBA Gatorade League affiliate and earn the same pay in both leagues. Each team can carry three two-way players who may appear on the active roster of the NBA team for as many as 50 games. A two-way contract is worth $636,435 for the 2025-26 season, which is half of the rookie minimum, and is not guaranteed.
While the Bucks are off the hook for the rest of Sears’ two-way salary, the guard remains in the organization because Wisconsin is Milwaukee’s NBA G League affiliate.
While on the two-way contract, Sears played in seven games with the Bucks. In 26 minutes on the court, Sears had 22 points, two rebounds and two assists.
In 13 games with the Herd this season, Sears has averaged 15.8 points, 2.7 rebounds and 5.5 rebounds.
With Wisconsin, Sears is a teammate of former Alabama guard Kira Lewis Jr., who was a high school star at Hazel Green.
Eight players with Alabama basketball roots on two-way contracts this season had their contracts guaranteed for the rest of the year on Jan. 10:
Brooks Barnhizer (Alma Bryant), Oklahoma City Thunder
Dylan Cardwell (Auburn), Sacramento Kings
Sharife Cooper (Auburn), Washington Wizards
JD Davison (Calhoun, Alabama), Houston Rockets
Trey Jemison (Hoover, UAB), New York Knicks
Chaney Johnson (Thompson, UAH, Alabaster), Brooklyn Nets
Miles Kelly (Auburn), Dallas Mavericks
Chris Youngblood (Alabama), Oklahoma City Thunder
Sears earned All-State recognition for Muscle Shoals High School for the 2018-19 season, when the Trojans reached the semifinals of the AHSAA Class 6A tournament. Sears played two seasons at Ohio before coming to Alabama for the 2022-23 season.
In his third season with the Crimson Tide, Sears averaged 18.6 points, 2.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game in the 2024-25 campaign.
Wisconsin plays Westchester at 6 p.m. CST Monday at Oshkosh Arena in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.