Not a lot went right last night in the Bucks’ loss to the Atlanta Hawks at Fiserv Forum. The Bucks lost 121-106 and have now lost three of their last four since starting the season 9-0. Injuries are still playing a key role in the starting five and bench rotations.
Beauchamp playing important minutes for Bucks
One of the bright spots last night was the play of rookie MarJon Beauchamp. For the second straight game, Beauchamp played over 34 minutes. He scored a career-high 20 points and had a career-tying eight rebounds.
In his last three games, Beauchamp has averaged more than 33 minutes of playing time, and has tallied 47 points, an average of 15.7 in those three contests.
For the season, Beauchamp in 10 games has averaged 7.5 points and 3.7 rebounds per game. Injuries to other key contributors has allowed Beauchamp to get valuable playing time early in the season, but the Bucks may not have expected to have this kind of contribution from the player they drafted in the first round with the 24th pick in the 2022 NBA Draft.
Beauchamp now has three games with 14 or more points in his first 10 in the league. In addition to the 20 points he scored last night, Beauchamp had 19 points against OKC on November 9 and 14 points in a November 4 game versus Minnesota. Projected out for the season, with three 14+ point games in his first 10 games, Beauchamp could add another 20 14+ point games by the end of the year.
Beauchamp on pace to join other noteworthy Bucks’ rookies
Beauchamp became the 49th Milwaukee rookie to score 14 or more points in three or more games… a modest stat. But Beauchamp is on a pace for 23 14+ points games in his rookie season. That would put him in with some elite Milwaukee Bucks rookies.
There are nine Bucks’ rookies who had 20 or more games their first season with the team with 14+ points. Topping the list is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, then Lew Alcindor, who in his rookie season had 79 games with 14+ points. In the other three games he played that year, he had 13 points in each game.
Bucks’ rookies with most games with 14+ points
Here’s a list of Milwaukee Bucks rookies with 20 or more games with 14+ points their first year in the league.
79-Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
69-Glenn Robinson
66-Marques Johnson
47-Brandon Jennings
42-Vin Baker
38-Ray Allen
36-Todd Day
36-Bob Dandridge
23-Anthony Avent
Will Beauchamp become the 10th member of this group? He has certainly given himself every opportunity for more playing time, even when injured players like Khris Middleton, Pat Connaughton and Joe Ingles finally hit the court in 2022-23.
The Bucks must like what they have seen from Beauchamp in his first 10 games in the league. Whether he gets enough playing time to add another 20 14+ point games to become the tenth player on the above list is another story.
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