After 42 games in Milwaukee, the Bucks have decided to move on from Chris Livingston, waiving the former Kentucky wing on Wednesday.
The 21-year-old out of Akron had a non-guaranteed $2.22 million salary for the 2025-26 season that was scheduled to trigger on July 15 had he remained on the roster. Instead, they will find another fit for his roster spot with three now available.
Livingston averaged 1.2 points and 1.0 rebounds in 4.3 minutes per contest as a rookie in 2023-24, followed by 1.4 points and 1.7 rebounds in 5.0 minutes per game in 2024-25. He scored in double figures once back in February with four other multi-bucket performances in Milwaukee.
Livingston was controversially selected No. 58 overall by the Bucks in the 2023 NBA Draft after leaving Kentucky as a one-and-done, Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul calling teams in the second round requesting they not select his client after receiving a draft guarantee from Milwaukee.
At the time, he signed the largest contract ever for the last pick in the draft, putting pen to paper on a four-year deal worth $7.7 million with the first two years guaranteed.
That came after he was left off most mock drafts due to lukewarm production in Lexington, averaging 6.3 points and 4.2 rebounds in 22.4 minutes per game in his lone season at Kentucky. There, he shot 42.9 percent from the field, 30.5 percent from three and 72.2 percent at the line. He didn’t register 30 minutes in a game until January 31, with fewer than 25 minutes in 19 of 21 games up to that point. From February 7 on, though, he played at least 32 minutes in 11 straight games to close out the season.
And in that 11-game stretch, the former five-star hit the double-digit scoring mark five times and registered at least five rebounds on nine occasions. He scored at least three baskets in eight of 11, two double-doubles.
For those reasons, Rich Paul said John Calipari was responsible for Livingston’s fall on draft night.
“Like last year with a guy like Chris Livingston? He was 12th going into Kentucky when he went there. When he left there? You know, like, they’re talking about he can barely be a pro. How?” Paul said of his client in 2024. “He’s 6’7, athletic, long. Like, great kid. How is that possible? And who’s taking responsibility for that?
“That’s the thing. Someone has to be held accountable because, I would think, if I was coaching a young man or young woman? When you come in here, my job is either you’re leaving here just as good as you did when you came in or better. There’s no way you’re leaving here worse because I’m taking the responsibility. If I’m to the level and you’re saying that I’m this coach and we’re this institution? Then I have to hold myself accountable as well.
“It’s just like being in school. As a teacher, you’re not going to feel good just passing a kid along for the sake of passing a kid along, although it’s happening in many public schools in urban communities for many years. That don’t feel good and you know that don’t feel good – the same way as this.”
Two years after he heard his name called in the draft, he now has to find a new home as a pro.
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