John Henson and the Milwaukee Bucks have reportedly come to terms on a four-year contract extension said to be worth $44 million but could grow to as much as $48 million if the power forward hits certain incentive clauses. The extension, reported by Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski citing league sources, will begin in 2016-17 and will go into effect until the 2019-20 season.
If proven to be accurate, this would be a very good deal for Henson considering his modest statistics. The 24-year-old is regarded as one of the NBA's underrated frontcourt defenders. He put up a relatively meek average of 7.0 points and 4.7 rebounds in 18.3 minutes per match for Milwaukee in the previous season. But he also managed to deliver an average of 2.0 blocks per game to rank sixth in the league in that category even though he had only been given limited playing time.
Henson had been chased by a number of teams via trade in recent years, posted an above average PER (18.1) and saw his playing time surge to 25.5 minutes per game during the playoffs. In the 2012 NBA Draft, he was the No. 14-overall pick and has grown to be one of the Bucks' top big men after competing for playing time in his first three seasons.
"I played every role a man could play on this team and in this organization, from not playing, to playing, to starting [and] coming off the bench. It's good for me. I kept my head down and stayed in my lane, so to speak, and I've been rewarded for it," Henson told ESPN.
Meanwhile, O.J. Mayo recently returned to Milwaukee's training camp after missing the first two days of practice and the team's media day due to an undisclosed family situation. The shooting guard participated in Thursday morning's workouts at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Mayo, who is in the final year of his three-year contract with Milwaukee, struggled with a sub-par first season with the team, averaging 11.7 points and shooting a meager 40.7%. He was limited to 52 games due to a handful of injuries and clashes with former coach Larry Drew. However, Mayo bounced back as a reserve in the last season as averaged 11.4 points per game and led one of the most productive bench units in the NBA.
The Bucks held their final day of training camp today on Friday at U-W Madison and will have public workout during its Fan Fest on Saturday at Milwaukee's BMO Harris Bradley Center.
