The Milwaukee Bucks have exercised the third-year contract option on Tobias Harris (6-8, 226), and the fourth-year contract option on Larry Sanders (6-11, 235) and Ekpe Udoh (6-10, 245), General Manager John Hammond announced today.
Harris, 20, appeared in 42 games (nine starts) last year during his rookie season and averaged 5.0 points with 2.4 rebounds and 0.5 assists in 11.4 minutes per contest. He made his debut in the Bucks starting lineup on March 3 at Orlando, and Milwaukee went 5-2 during his first stint as a starter. Harris posted his first double-double with 15 points and a career-high 13 rebounds vs. Philadelphia on April 25, and scored in double figures seven times overall during his rookie campaign, with a high of 19 points coming vs. Chicago on Feb. 4. In the 2012 NBA Summer League, Harris led the Bucks with 20.8 points per game as was named to the Summer League All-Star Team.
Sanders, 23, played in 52 games last season and led the team in blocks with 76 total (1.5 per game). He also averaged 3.6 points and 3.1 rebounds in 12.4 minutes per game. Sanders posted 23 multi-block games on the season, third most in the NBA by a reserve. He recorded a career-high four steals and a season-high five blocks vs. Philadelphia on April 25, becoming the first Bucks player in 25 years to reach both those numbers in a single game. In his two NBA seasons, Sanders has played in 112 games (12 starts), averaging 4.0 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.32 blocks in 13.5 minutes per game.
Udoh, 25, appeared in 61 games (11 starts) split between Golden State and Milwaukee last season, averaging 5.6 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.67 blocks (11th in the NBA) in 21.2 minutes per contest. In the 11 games he started, five with Milwaukee, Udoh averaged 10.5 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.82 blocks. He posted 33 multi-block games during his second year in the NBA, a league-high 26 of them coming in a reserve role. Over his two seasons in the NBA, Udoh has played in a total of 119 games (29 starts), averaging 4.8 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.58 blocks in 19.5 minutes per game.
Under the terms of the NBA’s current collective bargaining agreement, the first two years of a first round draft pick’s contract are guaranteed, while the third and fourth year of the contract are the team’s option.
Harris was picked by the Bobcats with the 19th overall selection in the 2011 NBA Draft, and his draft rights, along with Stephen Jackson and Shaun Livingston, were traded to the Bucks in exchange for Corey Maggette in a three-team deal involving Sacramento on June 23, 2011. Sanders was selected by Milwaukee with the 15th pick in the 2010 NBA Draft, and Udoh came to the Bucks on March 14, 2012, with Monta Ellis and Kwame Brown in a trade for Andrew Bogut and Stephen Jackson.