Bucks cut ties with former No. 33 overall pick in $1.96 million roster decision

The Milwaukee Bucks needed to cut one more player to get their roster ready for the 2025-26 NBA regular season.

They made the move on Sunday, and now they're ready to roll.

The decision? The Bucks waived Tyler Smith, according to NBA insider Jake Fischer.

Smith was the No. 33 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft.

He never played college basketball. Instead, he took the G League Elite route to the NBA.

Smith is a 6-foot-11 power forward. In his first NBA season, he got into 23 games with the Bucks and averaged 2.9 points in 5.3 minutes per game.

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The Bucks let Smith get ample run in the G League for the Wisconsin Herd. There, he averaged 10.7 points and 6.1 rebounds per game.

Milwaukee was basically down to a decision between two players for this final cut.

They had already chosen to keep Amir Coffey on the roster, not necessarily a surprise but at least a guy who could've been in the running to get cut.

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That left Smith and Andre Jackson.

In the end, the Bucks opted to keep Jackson, the freakish leaper and quality connector whose main flaw is that he can't shoot. But he can do everything else well, and he's more flexible positionally than Smith is.

So Smith will potentially look for a new home on waivers, or he could end up back in the G League.

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