Joe Alexander’s NBA career veered slowly toward a dead end Tuesday when the Bucks announced before Alexander’s second season they’ll decline the option for his third season.

“It was a difficult decision not to pick up Joe Alexander’s option,” Hammond said. “Joe has missed valuable on-court development opportunities due to injury during the first two training camps, and this year he will miss almost the first three months of the season with his hamstring injury.

“We believe Joe can be a good NBA player, but his latest injury has hampered our ability to further assess his progress.”

Technically, this makes him one of the biggest busts in recent draft history — every player drafted higher in the current rookie scale setup had his option exercised.

I don’t quite understand the NBA, nor do I pretend to — I kind of though Alexander could grow into the league over time — but this just seems odd.

You’ve basically told a kid who can be prone to erratic play and, thus, behavior that he has no future with the team. What do you really expect from him if/when he does return and if/when he’s needed? Perhaps you want to trade him, but you’ve basically let it be known you can flip him for about 20 cents on the dollar. Good luck, Bucks.

Best of luck, Joe.