The Milwaukee Bucks will be declining the fourth-year rookie option worth $4.8 million for the 2025-26 season on MarJon Beauchamp's contract, according to Shams Charania of ESPN.
After being drafted 24th overall by the Bucks in 2022, Beauchamp has shown flashes of his potential as a shooter and scorer on the wing. However, these moments have been overshadowed by doubt and struggles that have persisted on the court in games and off the court in practices, league sources told ClutchPoints. The concerns from the organization's perspective are Beauchamp's willingness to change his style of play in order to fit in alongside the Bucks' core of Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard, and Khris Middleton.
As a result, Milwaukee has dangled Beauchamp in trade talks over the last month, sources said. Whether or not the team will find a new home for the young wing before the trade deadline remains unclear.
The other big question regarding Beauchamp and whether or not the Bucks will be able to trade him revolves around the fact that this team owns the third-highest payroll for the 2024-25 NBA season. This means that Milwaukee is above the second tax apron and is severely limited to making trades. Beauchamp will not be able to have his salary aggregated with any other player's in a potential trade, and the Bucks will only be able to take back up to his $2.7 million cap hit for this season in a deal.
Article Continues BelowIn a total of 104 games with the Bucks since entering the league, Beauchamp has averaged 4.7 points and 2.1 rebounds per game while shooting 43.1 percent from the floor and 35.3 percent from three-point range.
If Beauchamp remains on the Bucks' roster at the conclusion of the 2024-25 season, he will become an unrestricted free agent next summer and be allowed to sign a contract with any team in the league. Milwaukee would only be allowed to re-sign him for the amount he would've been making if the team had exercised his fourth-year option — $4.7 million.
Of course, many NBA fans will remember Beauchamp's memorable summer in 2023 when he scored 83 points in a game at The CrawsOver pro-am, which is run by former NBA guard Jamal Crawford. This moment also gave Bucks fans false hope that the young scorer would potentially turn things around in Milwaukee, especially alongside Lillard.
That was not the case, and now Beauchamp's days with the Bucks are numbered. The 24-year-old has only seen a total of nine minutes through the first four games of the season, which is why it is expected that he will fall out of the rotation with the news of the team declining his fourth-year option.