Milwaukee Bucks breakout guard Ryan Rollins stressed how the Bucks must maintain their identity with Giannis Antetokounmpo out for the next few weeks.
Ryan Rollins is likely the early frontrunner for the NBA’s Most Improved Player Award based on his unbelievable start to the 2025-26 season, but his two best performances in the early part of this campaign have both come with superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo on the sidelines with an injury.
With Antetokounmpo expected to be out for at least one to two weeks with a groin injury suffered in Monday’s 118-106 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, Rollins will look to continue his impressive run of scoring with Antetokounmpo off the floor.
Rollins scored a career-high 32 points to lead the Bucks over the Warriors by a score of 120-110 on Oct. 30. and then scored his second-highest single-game total of 25 points in a 111-100 loss to the Hornets last week, both with Antetokounmpo out.
With Antetokounmpo out for the upcoming slate and Rollins having assumed the team’s secondary scoring and shot creation role, the 23-year-old knows what he has to do to succeed with the added responsibility of the next few weeks.
“I would say just like doing my best to limit the mistakes,” Rollins said. “Knowing my aggressiveness is going to have to go up a little bit in those situations. Just limit the mistakes. Keep getting to my spots, keep looking for other people. I would say the main thing is just limit the mistakes.”
Staying True
A major concern for the Bucks will be their ability to create the three-point looks they have thrived off of so consistently this year without the gravity and spacing that just having Antetokounmpo on the floor creates. The way Rollins sees it, the team has to stick with its identity regardless of whether Antetokounmpo is on the floor to make their lives easier or not.
“It should still be a big thing for us,” Rollins said. “A lot of driving kicks, 3-pointers. When we've got an opportunity to shoot them, we've got to let it fly. It's still got to be our M.O. That's been our M.O. for this year. With or without GA, we've got to be who we are. If we want to be that team, we have to be that team.”
The Bucks, who are now 8-7 after losing two in a row and three of their last four, will look to get back on the right track sans Antetokounmpo against the Philadelphia 76ers at home on Thursday, with tip-off set for 7 p.m. CST.