Bucks waive Teletovic; Jennings to return
Mirza Teletovic, who has been sidelined since November and in December was diagnosed with pulmonary emboli for the second time in his career, is no longer a member of the Milwaukee Bucks. The team requested waivers on the 6-foot-9, sharpshooting forward Saturday night.
“The health of our players is our primary concern,” Bucks general manager Jon Horst said in a statement. “The Bucks and Mirza Teletovic, in consultation with team doctors and other physicians, have been working together since December to evaluate and manage Mirza’s situation. As a result of the overall evaluation that we’ve gone through, at this time we are both moving on.
“We appreciate all of Mirza’s contributions to the Bucks organization and our community. We wish him a lifetime of good health with his family.”
The Bucks already have a short-term plan in place for Teletovic’s roster spot. According to league sources, Brandon Jennings is coming back to the franchise that drafted him.
Taken by the Bucks with the No. 10 pick in the 2009 NBA draft and most recently a member of the Wisconsin Herd, the Bucks’ G League affiliate, Jennings, 28, is expected to sign a 10-day contract in the coming days. Jennings was not with the Herd for its game Saturday night in Oshkosh.
Teletovic underwent arthroscopic surgery Nov. 21 to repair cartilage in his left knee. During that rehabilitation process, he experienced unusual fatigue. On Dec. 15, the team announced he would miss an indefinite period of time due to the presence of blood clots in both of his lungs, a possibly lifethreatening condition Teletovic had experienced before in January 2015 as a member of the Brooklyn Nets.
These types of blood clots are what forced former Toronto Raptors and Miami Heat forward Chris Bosh into a medically-induced retirement in 2016. On Feb. 28, Teletovic refuted a report saying he would have to retire due to his condition, though that choice may be out of his control.
According to the league’s collective bargaining agreement, the decision whether an injury or illness is careerending is made by a doctor jointly selected by the league and the NBA Players Association. That determination can also be made by a Fitness to Play panel. The final decision weighs whether a given player’s situation will prevent him from playing the rest of his career or constitutes a medically unacceptable risk.
By releasing Teletovic, who is in the second year of a three-year, $31.5 million deal, the Bucks could be signaling they believe Teletovic’s situation will, like Bosh’s, end with a medically forced retirement due to unacceptable risk, considering the potentially deadly nature of pulmonary emboli.
The Bucks will still have to pay his salary, but following a one-year waiting period from the date of Teletovic’s last game — Nov. 7, 2017 — can apply for his salary to be excluded from being counted against their salary cap.
Teletovic played in 10 games this season, averaging 7.1 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.0 assist in 15.9 minutes per game while shooting 46.7% from three-point range. For his career, he averaged 8.1 points and 3.2 rebounds in 324 games.
The news of Jennings’ return to the Bucks was first reported Saturday by Marc Spears of ESPN’s The Undefeated.
“Blessed and grateful for a second chance coming from a franchise where it all started,” Jennings told The Undefeated.
Jennings will provide some needed point guard depth with Matthew Dellavedova and Malcolm Brogdon both out due to injuries.
Dellavedova’s right ankle sprain in particular has been tough for the Bucks to deal with, mostly because he’s been out longer than anticipated. The initial expectation was Dellavedova would miss three to four weeks — an amount of time that already has passed. On Saturday afternoon, coach Joe Prunty said Dellavedova is likely to remain on the sideline even longer.
“Delly has had a little bit of a setback,” Prunty said. “That having been said, I don’t have an official time frame for him. At this moment, I don’t believe he’s going to go on the trip (this week to Memphis and Orlando).”
With Dellavedova out longer than projected and Brogdon still expected to be out until early April with his partially torn left quadriceps tendon, the Bucks have spent the past 14 games with Eric Bledsoe as their only point guard. During that stretch, the Bucks have gone 6-8 and have had to lean on other players, specifically Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton, to pick up the load of running the offense.
“You’ve got a couple of guys there that are floor leaders, guys that can run our offense,” Prunty said when asked what the team is missing without Dellavedova and Brogdon. “Both of them can play the point guard position, it’s two guys that are shooting 38% from the three-point line, so some three-point shooting. ‘Corporate knowledge’ — guys that really understand the system and have experience in it, not only with the other guys on the floor but with each other.
“There is a lot, just like anybody being out, but in particular for those two. ... The list of things that they do could go on extensively.”
Jennings could help fill that void. An eight-year NBA veteran, Jennings ran the point in Milwaukee for four seasons from 2009-’13, averaging 17.0 points and 5.7 assists in 291 games. He was then traded to the Detroit Pistons in 2013 in the deal that brought Middleton and Brandon Knight to Milwaukee.
Jennings played with four NBA teams — the Pistons, Orlando Magic, New York Knicks and Washington Wizards — over the next four seasons, though his playing time was affected by a torn left Achilles in January 2015.
This season, Jennings played with Shanxi Zhongyu in the Chinese CBA. He appeared in 13 games, averaging 27.9 points, 6.8 assists, 5.1 rebounds and 2.7 steals before being waived in December. He joined the Herd on Feb. 13 and has played in seven games, averaging 21.4 points on 34.6% shooting while dishing out 7.6 assists and grabbing 4.7 rebounds per game.