The Milwaukee Bucks retained 23-year-old guard Ryan Rollins, but this time on a free agent contract, re-signing him to a 3-year, $12 million deal.
The Bucks initially extended Rollins a $2.6 million qualifying offer to make him a restricted free agent on June 29 – which meant if another team offered him a contract, the Bucks could match – but once free agency opened the Bucks had to formally rescind that offer in order to make salary cap room for Myles Turner.
That turned Rollins loose for the open market, and the Bucks had to step up and offer a significant raise over the minimum deal they guaranteed him at the end of last season.
HOOPSHYPE, a USA TODAY NETWORK property, confirmed the signing, which includes a player option in the third year.
A league sourced told the Journal Sentinel Rollins will make $3.64 million in 2025-26, with 5% raises thereafter. Rollins was re-signed with the rest of the room exception created when the team waived Damian Lillard. (Kevin Porter Jr. agreed to re-sign using the other portion of the room exception.)
Rollins is recovering from surgery on his left shoulder due to an injury he suffered early in the season. But he played through the pain, shooting 40.8% from behind the 3-point line and providing athleticism on defense and a spark offensively.
Rollins began last season on a two-way contract, which meant he could play 50 games for the Bucks and then spend time with the G League affiliate in Oshkosh. But he quickly earned the trust of head coach Doc Rivers and the team converted him to a fully guaranteed deal, which allowed him to play in the postseason.
Rollins first came to the Bucks at the end of the 2023-24 season on a two-way deal, appearing in just three games. He was originally a second-round draft pick by Atlanta in 2022 but was traded immediately to Golden State. He played in 12 games with the Warriors before being dealt to Washington, where he played in 10 games before signing with the Bucks.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee Bucks re-sign free agent guard Ryan Rollins to a 3-year deal
Reporting by Jim Owczarski, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
