Chris Reichert is reporting that the Milwaukee Bucks will be adding Raptors 905 player Axel Toupane to their roster to fill the spot vacated by the Roy Hibbert trade to the Denver Nuggets.
The Milwaukee Bucks are signing Axel Toupane of the Raptors 905 to a 10-day contract, per a league source
— Chris Reichert (@Chris_Reichert) February 24, 2017
Toupane is a 6’7” athletic wing whose latest stint in the NBA was 21 games last year for the Denver Nuggets, where he averaged 14.5 minutes per game with 9.0 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per-36 minutes. His 32.5% from three during that time was less than ideal, but his shooting numbers have improved this year in the D-League.
Toupane hails from France, and made his way onto Toronto’s D-League team after playing for their Summer League Team. He struggled shooting from the field, but did enough to finish out last season playing for Denver. The Nuggets waived him before the year, opening the chance for him to play for the Raptors 905 team once again under Jerry Stackhouse. His stellar play the last two months assuredly contributed to the Bucks targeting him, as he’s averaging 17.2 points, 3.8 assists and 1.3 steals per game while chucking it at 47% overall and 37% from deep in this calendar year.
Those numbers are encouraging, but we’ll see whether they hold up in the big leagues. Regardless, if Milwaukee was going to open up that roster spot, Toupane’s general outline as a player (3-and-D potential, 6’7” with 6’10” wingspan, dope name) is precisely the type of guy the Bucks should take a chance on. Recall also that Justin Zanik was intimately involved with running Utah’s D-League team last year, so it’s possible he has additional insight on Toupane or any other guys the Bucks may be targeting to fill that roster spot. That’s just speculation though. In the meantime, here’s a handy breakdown of Toupane’s game and a recent article on him from the guys at Ridiculous Upside.