AJ Green has quietly had one of the more impressive individual seasons on a Milwaukee Bucks team that's had a lot of troubles, and Doc Rivers isn't going to let that go unnoticed.

It's been a rough year in Milwaukee. Giannis Antetokounmpo has missed significant time with multiple injuries, most recently a left knee hyperextension that has kept him out for over a dozen straight games with no timetable for return.

The Bucks have been shorthanded for most of the season, and yet Green has kept showing up and producing. Doc Rivers made sure to put that in proper context after Milwaukee's Wednesday night game against the Pistons. 

"The part we keep missing is, he's done that without Giannis on the floor, who is his biggest assist-generator," Rivers said. "And then Scoot is his second-biggest assist-generator. So AJ has done that for the most part, without those two guys on the floor. That says a lot about AJ."

Rivers' point is worth sitting with for a second. Green is a movement shooter by design. He thrives coming off screens, relocating, and catching clean looks off the pass. Giannis is the best in the league at creating those looks for teammates.

Without him, Green has had to generate offense in ways that don't always play to his strengths, and he's still managed to average nearly 10 points a night while shooting 41 percent from three on the season. Without number 34, he's continued to prove he's one of the best floor-spacers and shooters in the entire league. 

Over his last six games he's scored at least 15 points in five of them, including a 20-point performance in the most recent outing against Brooklyn. He's been one of the few reliable offensive contributors in a lineup that's been completely reshuffled due to injuries.

The Bucks also signed Green to a four-year, $45 million extension back in October. They believe in him as a long-term piece, and he's doing his part to back that up. When asked what this kind of season does for Green going forward, Rivers didn't hesitate.

"Well, confidence," Rivers said. "It gives him a lot of confidence. It gives him and us things to give him for the summer."

That last part is probably the most telling thing Rivers said. The Bucks' future is genuinely uncertain right now with Giannis' situation still unresolved heading into the offseason. But whatever direction Milwaukee goes, Green is going to be part of the conversation.

He's proven he can hold his own without the best player in the franchise on the floor. That's not nothing. For a young player entering his fourth season, putting together this kind of body of work under these circumstances is exactly the kind of thing that shapes what a career becomes. Rivers clearly sees it, and the organization does too.