NBA preseason always involves a flurry of Exhibit 10 signings across the league. The Bucks got in on the action today, inking non-guaranteed deals with John Butler Jr. and Stephen \u201cStevie\u201d Thompson Jr., who both spent the 2024\u201325 season with the Wisconsin Herd.<\/p>\n
Typically, signings like this end with the players getting waived within the following day. That\u2019s likely the fate Butler and Thompson will face. Why? Exhibit 10 deals allow teams to claim prospects for their G League affiliates by offering bonuses for the players. If Thompson and Butler return to the Herd and stay with the team for 60 days, they\u2019ll receive a bonus check up to $85k. With these signings, Milwaukee is taking care of their minor league guys and nudging them to stay in-house to continue their development in the Bucks system.<\/p>\n
Thompson was a key member of the Herd last year, averaging 14.1 PPG in 48 games. Butler, who spent time with the Trail Blazers in 2022\u201323, is a 22-year-old seven-footer with floor spacing capabilities. Both guys are eligible for two-way contracts, but are questionable NBA prospects at this point in time. Butler has height, but he weighs in at a frail 190 pounds and desperately needs to hit the weight room if he\u2019s ever going to hold up against NBA physicality. Thompson can hardly be called a prospect, as he\u2019s already 28 years old. Pete Nance and Mark Sears are clearly better options for a two-way, and we all know Alex Antetokounmpo won\u2019t be losing his spot anytime soon.<\/p>\n
Assuming Thompson and Butler are released, they\u2019ll be joining fellow Exhibit 10 waivee Cormac Ryan on Wisconsin\u2019s roster for the 2025\u201326 season. The Herd also own the returning rights to some intriguing names, including former Buck Lindell Wigginton, 2020 lottery pick Kira Lewis Jr., and University of Wisconsin alumni Johnny Davis and Aleem Ford.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NBA preseason always involves a flurry of Exhibit 10 signings across the league. The Bucks got in on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":348091,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3775],"tags":[7,103,40296,102,121,3871,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-348090","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-milwaukee-bucks","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-bucks","10":"tag-bucks-free-agency","11":"tag-milwaukee","12":"tag-milwaukee-bucks","13":"tag-milwaukeebucks","14":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115391335321234174","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348090\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/348091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}