With apologies to Thanasis and Alex, the final edition of our pop quiz series focuses on the Bucks’ gaggle of off-ball guards/wings to round out the roster. Aside from Ryan, you’d be hard-pressed to say the other four met or exceeded expectations, and at least one fell well short of them. Here’s hoping for better results next here from whichever of this crew remains in Milwaukee.
Season in a snippet
AJ Green
78 GP, 29.1 MPG, 10.4 PPG, 2.7 RPG, 1.9 APG, 0.5 SPG, 0.1 BPG, .424/.419/.855
Kyle’s end-of-season grade: C+
On the one hand,
Green broke Ray Allen’s franchise record for made threes in a single season. On the other, it wasn’t until the Bucks were truly out of the race that Dairy Bird really showed up. Prior to the season’s final month, he shot .417/.407/.810, just 9.7 PPG on 6.9 3PA/game. He averaged 13.0 PPG with .445/.457/.950 on 8.1 3PA/game thereafter, highlighted by a career-high 35 points on April 10th. That’s production the Bucks really could have used in January or early March, as they tried to claw back into the play-in conversation amid Giannis injuries. AJG missed only four games and started 68, but after looking the part in 2024–25, he appears much less like an NBA starting guard today. That has a lot to do with his regression as a defender: the prior two years, he flashed really solid on-ball D, despite struggling a fair bit with team coverage (chalk that up to inexperience, maybe). He provided next to nothing on that end this season, which was a huge disappointment in my eyes. The only strides I really saw him make were as a playmaker: even if 1.9 APG looks like nothing, he had four-plus dimes a dozen times in 2025–26, up from seven the year prior.
Gary Harris
48 GP, 13.8 MPG, 2.7 PPG, 1.3 RPG, 1.1 APG, 0.6 SPG, 0.2 BPG, .442/.412/.889
Kyle’s end-of-season grade: C-
I don’t think anyone expected much from Harris, who many speculated would take on the Pat Connaughton break-in-case-of-emergency veteran role. At first, he scarcely played while the team wasn’t ravaged by injuries, but down the stretch, he played even less often, with just 13 appearances and 11 DNPs after February 1st. He too dealt with minor injuries during that span. However, he had several nice games in the first half, usually providing solid perimeter defense even at age 31, plus the occasional three. He hit double figures just once on November 14th. I would say he did what was expected of him as a deeper reserve on a minimum deal. Can’t ask for much anyway.
Andre Jackson Jr.
48 GP, 8.5 MPG, 2.4 PPG, 1.5 RPG, 0.9 APG, 0.4 SPG, 0.1 BPG, .328/.250/.625
Kyle’s end-of-season grade: C-
Ajax keeps hanging on in Milwaukee despite his fewest minutes since his rookie campaign. Believe it or not, this was the first time he shot worse than 37% from deep in a season, and it’s not as if his volume has ever changed. He continues to be a void on offense without showing any of the ball-handling and facilitation acumen he developed on UConn’s 2023 national championship team. So it’s up to him to prove his worth on defense, and he didn’t hang his hat on that either. He fell out of favor with Doc last season, but maybe Taylor Jenkins thinks he can take whatever defensive skills Jackson has left and create an actual NBA player. I’m not betting on it.
Cormac Ryan
11 GP, 24.6 MPG, 14.3 PPG, 2.5 RPG, 1.7 APG, 1.0 SPG, 0.3 BPG, .520/.458/.923
Kyle’s end-of-season grade: B+
Ah, finally something positive. I admit, Ryan deeply unimpressed me last summer league, and also didn’t stand out in limited preseason action. So I was nonplussed by Milwaukee’s decision to ink him on a two-way in late February. Looks like I was wrong about him, as the 27-year-old journeyman (he spent six seasons at three universities!) might just belong after all. Sure, it’s just 11 games, but the shot is definitely there, and he appears to have a bit more variety to his game than Green, the similarly-sized shooter he was naturally compared to. Ryan seriously popped in April with four games over 20+ and was in double-digits for eight of his 11 appearances. His two-way contract continues next season, and who knows, maybe the Bucks found themselves yet another rotation player not taking up a standard roster spot.
Gary Trent Jr.
65 GP, 21.2 MPG, 8.1 PPG, 1.0 RPG, 1.2 APG, 0.5 SPG, 0.0 BPG, .387/.360/.769
Kyle’s end-of-season grade: D+
I saved the worst for last. GTJ famously started slowly in 2024–25 but, after being benched in early November, was great the remainder of the year, culminating in a sensational Pacers series. He was probably Milwaukee’s second-best player for those five games, so fans were thrilled when he took a Non-Bird raise to stay put last offseason. Once again, he kind of started slowly, but unlike last year, he never broke out of it. His best two-game stretch was probably Milwaukee’s 2-0 start out of the gate, because he shot just 37.4% over his next 19 games, taking us to the end of November. His shooting numbers sank further as we entered 2026, and after the season’s midpoint, he was generally out of the rotation. But a shoutout for 36 points in a loss to the Clippers on March 29th. That came during an eight-game stretch where he averaged 12.8 PPG on .450/.463/.625 shooting. Like Green, where was this when the games actually mattered?
Tantalising totals
(1) Green established a new career-best in assists against Miami in November. How many, and what was his previous best?
Click to reveal answer
Eight, topping six from December 2024.(2) True or false: Jackson also set a career-high in assists this season.
Click to reveal answer
True, on March 23rd.(3) In 11 games, Ryan topped which three former All-Stars in FG% and 3P%, all of whom played fewer than 20 games?
Click to reveal answer
Trae Young (15 GP), DeJounte Murray (14), and Jayson Tatum (16). He was just 2.3% shy of overtaking Domantas Sabonis (19) in FG%. He also was no more than 3.6 PPG away from all but Tatum.Atypically advanced
(1) True or false: Trent’s 3PAr (three-point attempt rate) was higher in 2024–25 than in 2025–26.
Click to reveal answer
False: he took a career-high 72.3% of his shots from deep, shattering the previous high from last year at 65.9%(2) According to Cleaning The Glass, Harris’ assist-to-usage ratio of 1.23 led the team. Whose was higher: Harris’ or James Harden’s?
Click to reveal answer
Harris’. Harden was at 1.11.Obscure optics
(1) Trent’s notorious plus-minus issues resulted in a -9.2 net rating, per CTG. What two-time All-Star was just 0.2 points per 100 possessions better?
Click to reveal answer
Brandon Ingram. Trent’s net was also better than Isaiah Stewart’s and Bruce Brown’s!How did you fare? Share your score in the comments, and don’t forget to drop your thoughts along with it—which stat stands out?
