As we’ve discussed at length, a lot went wrong for the Milwaukee Bucks a season ago: injuries, Doc Rivers, underperformance, Doc Rivers, trade drama, Doc Rivers… Did I mention Doc Rivers? Yet, amid all the toxicity, there was a positive storyline to latch onto: Ryan Rollins’ breakout season.
After joining the Bucks on a two-way deal at the 2023-24 All-Star break and then making his debut on this list ahead of the 2024-25 season (where he was ranked 17th), Rollins has made tremendous strides. In fact,
going from a two-way contract player to one of the main pieces of an NBA roster is nothing short of astounding. But it’s more than just that.
With Damian Lillard gone prior to last season and Kevin Porter Jr. injured on opening night, Rollins was inserted into the starting lineup and stayed there for most games, starting in 67/74 contests. He took full advantage of the opportunity too, setting career highs in nearly every statistical category: 17.3 PPG, 5.6 APG, and 4.6 RPG, while playing 32.1 (!) minutes per night.
Beyond the statistical jumps, the eye test also showed Rollins’ remarkable improvement. He became a solid secondary and even primary creator when Giannis and/or KPJ were injured. He could attack downhill, create his own shot, and pass well. The advanced stats back it up too. According to Cleaning the Glass, just 40% of Rollins’ made baskets were assisted, while only 18% of his made mid-range shots were assisted. As for his passing, his assist rate jumped 10 percentage points, from 16.3% to 26.3%, moving him from the 6th to the 42nd percentile.
While Rollins provided a lot on offence a year ago, he was also one of the few plus defenders on the roster. According to NBA.com, Rollins defended the third-most shots per game on the Bucks at 11.5 (most among the guards) and forced players to shoot just 45.2% when he guarded them—fifth-best for Milwaukee. It shouldn’t come as a surprise then that Rollins made the Bucks a better defensive team when he was on the floor; with Rollins teams scored 5.8 fewer points per possession (91st percentile) and had a 3% lower effective field goal percentage (90th percentile). Any way you slice it, Rollins was Milwaukee’s most impactful player for most of the season, behind Giannis—and you could argue he was more impactful because he played more than twice as many games as Giannis.
Beyond his play on the court, Rollins also has the right mentality—especially for this Bucks team. He’s as tough as nails (as Jack wrote last year), having dealt with shoulder issues throughout much of his Bucks tenure, but has tried to gut through injury and stay available as much as possible. And make no mistake, Rollins will be called upon to step up even more this year—not just as a player, but also as a leader. Time will tell if he’s truly ready for that.
Of course, the key task for the Bucks moving forward will be keeping Rollins around. He’s in the second year of a three-year, $12m deal, but the final year is a player option. If Rollins has another season anything like last year, he’ll surely decline that option and look for a much bigger payday. Ultimately, we’ll see what the future holds, but I imagine Jon Horst will do what is necessary to keep a 24-year-old in a Bucks uniform.
No poll this time. Congratulations to Tyler Herro for winning this year’s Ranking the Roster series in his debut year in the Cream City! We’ll see if he’ll be back next year to repeat.
