Former UConn Huskies guard Andre Jackson Jr.’s brief stop in Toronto ended the way a lot of camp deals do.
On Monday the Raptors waived the former UConn standout and signed forward Tyson Degenhart to an Exhibit 10 contract, a corresponding move that closed Jackson’s window on the training-camp roster, via Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.
It was a short stay. Toronto signed the 6-foot-6 wing to his own Exhibit 10 deal in early August, after Milwaukee declined his team option in late June.
Jackson, the 36th pick in the 2023 draft, had spent three seasons with the Bucks. A hamstring issue limited him in Raptors camp, and the roster math never turned in his favor.
From a UConn vantage point, the waiver is less a verdict on the player than a reminder of the role that made him valuable in the first place.
Jackson was a starter on Dan Hurley’s 2023 national championship team, the group that beat San Diego State 76-59 in Houston and gave the program its fifth title. He was not the leading scorer on that roster. He was the connector.
As a junior he averaged 6.7 points, 6.2 rebounds and 4.7 assists in 29.1 minutes, starting 31 of 36 games. The scoring line undersold the job.
Jackson defended on the ball, rebounded in traffic, and pushed the break so Hurley’s shooters could get clean looks.
In the NCAA Tournament, he piled up assists without turning the ball over, the kind of quiet control that lets a title team play fast without playing reckless. That version of Jackson is still the one NBA front offices keep circling back to: long, athletic, willing to guard, and comfortable not needing the ball.
The professional translation has been narrower. In 172 games with Milwaukee he averaged 2.7 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.0 assist in 11.4 minutes, with 52 starts mixed in.
Last season, the role shrank to 8.5 minutes a night and 2.4 points across 48 games. The defensive flashes never fully solved the shooting problem that has followed him since Storrs, where he made 29.3 percent of his threes over three seasons.
Training-camp deals are built for that profile. Exhibit 10 contracts give a team a look, and often a path to its G League affiliate if the player is waived. Jackson got the look. Degenhart, who spent last season with Raptors 905 after going undrafted out of Boise State, got the roster spot.
For UConn, the through-line is familiar. Hurley’s championship teams have been built on wings who defend, pass, and accept a role. Jackson did that at the highest level of college basketball in 2023.
Three years into the league, that same skill set is still searching for a roster that needs it enough to keep him. The Raptors decided they did not. The next opportunity, if it comes, will almost certainly ask for the same thing Storrs did.
