The Milwaukee Bucks might look a lot different when the 2025-26 season tips off. Rumors have swirled around this team for the past few years, and they have intensified this summer after another disappointing first-round exit in this year's playoffs, their third in a row.

Milwaukee Bucks guard Pat Connaughton has exercised his $9.4 million player option for the 2025–26 season, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania. The decision ensures the veteran will return for an eighth season with the Bucks and his 11th overall in the NBA.

Milwaukee Bucks wing Pat Connaughton formally picked up his player option for the 2025-26 season worth $9.4 million on June 21, three days before the deadline to do so. It is the final year of a 3-year, $28.5 million extension he signed in the summer of 2022. He picked up a player option in advance of that extension.