In rather unsurprising news, Marc Stein of The Stein Line has reported that Milwaukee Bucks veteran Pat Connaughton will likely exercise his $9.4m player option for next season. Connaughton has until June 24 to exercise or decline the option.
This news comes as no shocker, given the lack of interest the 10-year pro would likely have on the open market if he were to enter free agency. Since his career year in the 2021–22 season, Pat’s ability to positively impact the game has steadily diminished, with his minutes all but drying up completely last season.
The Brew Hoop community predicted that Connaughton would experience a significant falloff in production before last season began in our annual Ranking The Roster series, where he plummeted to 10th after finishing sixth the previous year. That prediction proved to be correct. Pat finished last season appearing in 41 games with averages of 5.3 PPG, 1.7 APG, and 2.7 RPG in the fewest minutes played per contest since his second year in the league.
I should note that although Connaughton will be exercising his player option, it is not a given that he will play in a Bucks uniform next season. He could be traded, of course, but GM Jon Horst can use the NBA’s stretch provision to waive Pat and save money in the near term by lengthening the timespan in which the contract must be paid. For a deeper explanation of the stretch provision, I have quoted SLAM’s Austin Kent, who explained it quite succinctly:
“When an NBA player is waived, the guaranteed money owed to them remains on their team’s books for the duration of the contracted term. The stretch provision allows teams to waive a player and then spread that player’s cap hit over additional seasons at a lesser annual value.”
At this stage, let’s assume that PC returns because the stretch provision has seldom been used. However, for an expensive team like the Bucks, it’s certainly not out of the question. In other Bucks-related news from Stein, former head coach Adrian Griffin (if only for a few months) recently interviewed for an assistant coaching job with the Memphis Grizzlies.