Gary Payton II signs with Bucks, Terrence Jones waived

Gary Payton II signed a multi-year deal to join the Milwaukee Bucks from the Rio Grande Valley Vipers on Sunday in an effort to boost backcourt depth, according to multiple sources.

Last June, Gary Payton II was an undrafted free agent that signed a three-year deal with the Rockets. Payton II was a member of the Rockets’ summer league team and was invited to training camp.

He was one of the difficult decisions for the Rockets during training camp, but they ended up keeping Bobby Brown as the final point guard on the roster. He was waived and went unclaimed, so he went to the Rockets’ D-League affiliate, the RGV Vipers.

He averaged 14.1 PPG and 6.5 RPG for the Vipers this season, and the main highlight of his D-League season was when he dropped 51 points in Los Angeles with his dad, legend Gary Payton, in attendance.

Payton II even played nine minutes in Milwaukee’s loss to the Dallas Mavericks yesterday, scoring five in his NBA debut. This marks four former Rockets that have been on the Bucks roster this year (Jason Terry, Michael Beasley, and Terrence Jones.)

The move to sign Payton II did force the Bucks to waive Terrence Jones, who only suited up three times for Milwaukee. This makes Jones a free agent, and with injuries depleting our frontcourt, it makes perfect sense to bring him back, right?

Wrong.

The deadline to sign free agents passed last week, and Jones is now a non-playoff eligible free agent, which likely means his season is over. It is possible that he will generate interest in the offseason, but for now, the Rockets just got to roll with what the got.