4:59 pm: Livingston has been released by the Bucks, per NBA.com’s transactions log.
9:59 am: The Bucks are taking a first step toward addressing their roster crunch, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania, who reports (via Twitter) that the team is waiving forward Chris Livingston.
The final pick in the second round of the 2023 draft, Livingston has spent the past two seasons in Milwaukee but played a very limited role at the NBA level, logging just 196 minutes in 42 total regular season appearances. He averaged 1.3 points and 1.3 rebounds in 4.7 minutes per game.
Livingston, who turned 22 on Wednesday, has showed some promise in the G League. In 18 outings for the Wisconsin Herd in 2024/25, he averaged 18.1 points, 8.2 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 1.1 steals in 29.5 minutes per contest, with a shooting line of .485/.301/.828.
The 6’6″ forward also played well for the Bucks’ Summer League team this July, earning a new one-year, minimum-salary contract in Milwaukee after having been waived two weeks earlier. While Livingston’s salary on his previous contract wasn’t guaranteed for 2025/26, his newest deal was fully guaranteed, so the Bucks will carry a dead cap hit of $2,296,274 after cutting him, assuming he goes unclaimed on waivers.
Livingston had been one of 15 Bucks players with a standard guaranteed contract. Waiving him will put the team in position to retain either Andre Jackson Jr. or Amir Coffey as its 15th man.
Jackson has an $800K partial guarantee on his minimum-salary deal and would earn his full $2.22MM guarantee if he makes the opening night roster. Coffey is on a non-guaranteed Exhibit 9 contract.