The Golden State Warriors liked Ryan Rollins enough to trade up for him in the second round of the 2022 draft. Now, after a rocky stretch after leaving the Warriors, Rollins is back on an NBA contract with the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Milwaukee Bucks are converting two-way guard Ryan Rollins to a standard NBA contract for the rest of the season, agents Mike Silverman and Brandon Grier of Equity Basketball told ESPN. Rollins, 22, has averaged 10.4 points and 39% shooting on 3s in 8 starts this season. pic.twitter.com/tuEPh7sBNu
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) March 3, 2025
After he was waived by the Washington Wizards, Rollins signed a two-way deal with the Milwaukee Bucks just over a year ago. He played only 12 minutes for the Bucks last season, but this year he’s been in 39 games for the Bucks, starting eight of them. In those starts, he’s averaging 10.4 points, shooting 39.8% from three-point range, and playing respectable-to-good defense.
That was enough for Milwaukee to reward Rollins with an NBA deal for the remainder of the season. While Rollins generally doesn’t play when Milwaukee’s point guards are healthy, coach Doc Rivers likes to keep backup point Kevin Porter, Jr. on the bench and start Rollins when Damian Lillard is out.
Golden State traded up to get Rollins with the 44th pick in the 2022 draft and gave him an NBA contract, a move that may have represented the high-water mark for the team’s notorious “two timelines” strategy. The Warriors had high hopes for Rollins, but after the draft, he had a foot injury that kept him out of Summer League. After 12 games and 62 minutes, Rollins had season-ending surgery to repair a Jones fracture in the same right foot.
After the season, he and fellow 2022 draftee Patrick Baldwin, Jr. were traded to the Washington Wizards, along with Jordan Poole, in what eventually amounted to a mostly tax-saving move to acquire Chris Paul. (Baldwin signed a two-way contract with the Los Angeles Clippers this week).
But last season, Rollins was charged with petty larceny for allegedly shoplifting from Target, and the Wizards released him. Milwaukee signed him about a month later, while his legal troubles (at most a misdeameanor) do not seem to have continued.
It’s a nice opportunity for Rollins, who seems to have found a home with the Bucks. His deal is only for the end of the season, but the former first-team All-MAC guard is still only 22 years old, and seems like an ideal fit for a team employing a 35-year-old Lillard last season. For a player who has had bad luck in his career to date, this is a nice bonus.
Though not as nice as the bonus he got when the Bucks won the NBA Cup last December. While two-way players only get half of the winners’ share for winning the Cup, that still amounted to $257,485 for Rollins, which amounted to roughly a 45% raise on his yearly salary of $578,577. Now he’ll get just under $600K for the rest of the season, making him one of the best-compensated players to start the season on a two-way contract in NBA history.
That’s not all. The Bucks moved into fourth place in the Eastern Conference with a win Saturday, putting them on track for home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. And it puts Rollins on track for another bonus: Playoff shares. He may have made questionable decisions in the past, but signing with the Bucks may have saved Rollins’ NBA career. And his bank account balance.