Emerging Ryan Rollins leads Bucks into clash vs. Kings
When Ryan Rollins was a rookie with the Golden State Warriors four years ago, he was so far down the depth chart that fans on the west coast rarely got to see him play.
But as the Milwaukee Bucks open a four-game West Coast swing on Sunday night against the host Sacramento Kings, Rollins' prominent role with the Bucks will be impossible to miss.
Rollins had 29 points on Friday, then watched as Kevin Porter Jr. teamed with Giannis Antetokounmpo on one of the Bucks' most exciting plays of the season -- an alley-oop with 4.7 seconds left -- that produced the difference-making points in a 122-121 home win over the Charlotte Hornets.
Antetokounmpo finished with 30 points and Porter 10 assists. They shared coach Doc Rivers' praise with Rollins afterward.
"Yeah, just gotta keep building that, keep getting better," Rivers said about the Bucks' three-man attack. "Ryan is just playing. I mean, he plays off of Giannis right now better than anyone on our team. ‘Scoot' (Porter) just gives Giannis a chance to get off the ball, so all three have been really good."
The Bucks flew west having won three of their last four. Antetokounmpo has put up 29.0 points in those games despite averaging just 27.1 minutes. Rollins has chipped in with 19.5 per contest while Porter has averaged 8.8 assists.
The biggest surprise has been Rollins, who began his NBA career as a relative afterthought. He was the 44th overall pick of the 2022 draft by the Atlanta Hawks, who flipped him immediately to the Warriors for Tyrese Martin and cash.
The Toledo product got into just 12 games for the Warriors that season, including a 59-second cameo against the Kings on Oct. 23, 2002, in his second career game.
His season-high for points as a rookie was seven, then seven again for the Washington Wizards in his second season.
Waived by the Wizards in January 2024 and picked up by the Bucks six weeks later, he has gone from a two-way player to receiving a three-year, $12 million deal in the offseason after two games with 20-plus points for Milwaukee in the final month of the season.
Rollins has started 30 games this season and topped the 20-point mark 13 times.
The Bucks will visit the Warriors on Wednesday.
Sacramento has lost four in a row, three on the road, leading into a stretch of nine of 10 at home. They'll have to travel just 90 miles -- to San Francisco -- for the lone road game.
They'll begin the stretch without rookie center Maxime Raynaud, who injured his left leg in Friday's loss at Phoenix and had to be helped to the locker room.
Kings coach Doug Christie awaited the results of an MRI on Saturday with an optimistic view.
"He was smiling, so that is always good," Christie said. "Always fingers crossed with young players. He plays so hard and plays with his heart and, when you see stuff like that, it just doesn't necessarily sit well with you. I got my fingers crossed."
Raynaud, who has become Sacramento's primary center following the knee injury suffered by Domantas Sabonis last month, has recorded six double-doubles in his run of 13 straight starts.