Sports · Basketball · 6 hrs ago
Bucks pick up contract options for Kel’el Ware and Kasparas Jakučionis
The Milwaukee Bucks picked up contract options for Kel’el Ware and Kasparas Jakučionis for the 2027/28 season.
The decisions guarantee Ware $7.1 million and Jakučionis $4 million that season.
Both players joined Milwaukee from Miami over the summer in the trade involving Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Ware is a center who was the 15th pick in the 2024 draft, while Jakučionis is a Lithuanian guard selected 20th in 2025.
Ware averaged 11.1 points and 9.0 rebounds in his second NBA season, while Jakučionis averaged 6.2 points and 2.6 assists as a rookie.
The options keep both young players under contract, and Ware can negotiate a rookie-scale extension next offseason.
Milwaukee must decide by November 1, 2027, whether to pick up Jakučionis’s fourth-year option.
The Milwaukee Bucks exercised their 2027/28 rookie-scale options on Kel’el Ware and Kasparas Jakučionis.
Ware is guaranteed $7.1 million for that season, while Jakučionis will earn $4 million.
The team had until the end of November 2 to decide on the options.
Both players joined Milwaukee from Miami in the Giannis Antetokounmpo trade over the summer.
Ware was the 15th pick in the 2024 draft, and Jakučionis was selected 20th overall the following year.
- Who
- The Milwaukee Bucks exercised options on Kel’el Ware and Kasparas Jakučionis.
- What
- The team picked up their rookie-scale options for 2027/28.
- When
- November 2, 2026.
- Where
- Milwaukee. The sources do not state where the decision was made.
- Why
- The sources do not state the Bucks’ reason.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto reported that the Bucks were exercising both players’ options.
Hoops Rumors reported that both options had been officially picked up.
- Ware’s 2027/28 salary
- Guaranteed $7.1 million
- Jakučionis’s 2027/28 salary
- $4 million
- Ware’s draft position
- 15th overall in 2024
- Jakučionis’s draft position
- 20th overall in 2025
- Decision deadline
- End of November 2, 2026
2 sources
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The Milwaukee Bucks will exercise their rookie scale team options on Kel'el Ware ($7.14 million) and Kasparas Jakucionis ($4.02 million) for the 2027-28 season, league sources told @hoopshype.