Milwaukee Bucks: Bobby Portis Agrees to Return on 2-Year Deal
By Paul Bretl
The People’s Champ is Back with the Milwaukee Bucks!
Following the Bucks’ Championship run, Bobby Portis had a player option with Milwaukee for the 2021-2022 season that he opted out of. This wasn’t a surprise whatsoever; even with his return to the Bucks, he will be making more money this season than what he did previously. Regardless of the outcome, this was going to happen first.
Yet even with that being the case, in the days that followed the Milwaukee Bucks NBA Championship win, it was assumed that Portis was going elsewhere for a bigger payday–and who could blame him?
However, recently rumors began surfacing that Portis would be willing to stay in Milwaukee and on a more team-friendly contract than what he could earn elsewhere. On Monday morning, Eric Nehm of The Athletic ($$) would report that “there is growing optimism within the organization that Portis, 26, will return to Milwaukee.”
And those rumors proved to be true.
It was first reported by Shams Charania of The Athletic that Portis was returning to the Milwaukee Bucks on a two-year deal worth $9 million, and it came with a player option once again for the second season.
Free agent Bobby Portis has agreed to a two-year, $9 million deal to return to the Milwaukee Bucks, with a second year player option, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 2, 2021
Charania would go on to add that Portis turned down potential deals from the Dallas Mavericks as well as the Miami Heat. As Shams put it, Bobby “cherished the organization’s culture and winning environment.”
To make things even better for the Milwaukee Bucks, it was reported by Keith Smith of Spotrac that the team re-signed Portis by utilizing his non-bird rights instead of the $5.9 million Mid-Level Exception (MLE)–which is what everyone anticipated the deal would be. So now the Bucks are able to use the MLE on another free agent–talk about sacrificing for your team.
Portis became beloved by the city of Milwaukee and the state of Wisconsin for his high energy off the bench and willingness to do whatever it took each night to win. This even included seeing very little playing time in Round 2 of the Eastern Conference playoffs against Brooklyn because it was best for the team matchup-wise.
This season, Portis averaged 20.8 minutes per game and recorded 11.4 points per contest, along with 7.1 rebounds, 1.1 assists, nearly a steal per game, all while shooting 47.1 percent from 3.
During the playoffs, he tallied 8.8 points per game along with 5.0 rebounds over 18.3 minutes per game. This also included 22 points against Atlanta in Game 5 while the Bucks were without Giannis Antetokounmpo and 16 points off the bench in Milwaukee’s Championship clinching win over Phoenix.
With Portis officially back, now all eyes turn to PJ Tucker, who is an unrestricted free agent, but many are speculating that he too will return to the Milwaukee Bucks.