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Milwaukee Bucks pick G League Ignite teenager Tyler Smith No. 33 in 2024 NBA draft
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- Milwaukee Bucks pick G League Ignite teenager Tyler Smith No. 33 in 2024 NBA draft
The Milwaukee Bucks selected 19-year-old big man Tyler Smith with the third pick of the second round (No. 33 overall) of the NBA draft Thursday afternoon , backing up 19-year-old first-round pick AJ Johnson with another young developmental prospect.
Late Wednesday night, Bucks general manager Jon Horst intimated not only that a big man would be a priority should he keep the pick, but that a young one would as well.
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"What things we'll look for in free agency, trade-wise, 33 (Thursday), we just feel like we need to continue to add guard size and wing defense," Horst began. "You can never have too much shooting on our team. We want to continue to invest in our bigs and support Bobby, Brook, and Giannis in a way that they play. Those are really our needs. And I think AJ checks some of those boxes out of the gate.
"I think we want to always look to try to improve our talent at the top. There will be opportunities to do that. And we do have to care about this team moving forward. Yeah, it's all about winning this year. It's been all about winning last year and the year before. It always is. Sometimes you get it right, sometimes you don't. But we always have to have an eye on moving forward."
Smith measured 6-foot-9 without shoes at the draft combine but has a 7-1 wingspan. He played for the Ignite, the NBA's now-defunct pro team in the G League, last season after he originally turned professional by signing with Overtime Elite in 2021.
In 27 games, Smith averaged 13.4 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.0 blocks per game for the Ignite. He also shot 36% from behind the three-point line.
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He will turn 20 years old on Nov. 2 and joins not only Johnson, but last year's second-round pick Chris Livingston (20 years old) as very young, promising talents for a team that expects to contend for the 2024-25 title.
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The Bucks also have experience drafting off the Ignite program, as they selected MarJon Beauchamp off the squad in the first round of the 2022 draft .
It is important to note that until Smith signs with the Bucks, the rights to him can be attached to a veteran player in a trade and it will not count as an aggregated salary. (Currently Milwaukee is operating like a second apron team, which will not allow them to combine players in a trade – a penalty added to the most recent collective bargaining agreement to prevent high-spending teams like the Bucks from using pure financial might to acquire players.)
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ANALYSIS: Milwaukee Bucks draft AJ Johnson and Tyler Smith, talented teenagers to balance a veteran roster
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee Bucks pick G League teenager Tyler Smith No. 33 in NBA draft
