Milwaukee general manager Jon Horst has revealed that one free agent wasn't short on suitors this summer.
Recently-extended Milwaukee Bucks general manager Jon Horst has revealed that one particular summer free agent re-siging wasn't short on rival suitors this summer.
During a fresh conversation with Eric Nehm of The Athletic, Horst indicated that power forward/center Bobby Portis Jr. had several choices on the open market as the 30-year-old looked to decline his $13.4 million player option for the 2025-26 season and hit unrestricted free agency.
Portis inked a new three-season, $43.6 million deal to return to the Bucks. He now has a $16 million player option for 2027-28.
1-on-1 with Jon Horst, Part 2
— Eric Nehm (@eric_nehm) July 18, 2025
- The return of Bobby Portis
- Extension talks with AJ Green
- The potential of the Bucks’ point guards
- Kyle Kuzma’s second season in Milwaukee
At @TheAthletic: https://t.co/X20SyNi26U
"I was nervous as hell," Horst said of being able to re-sign Portis. "I did not want to go through a season, a practice, a day without Bobby Portis as part of the team that I’m a part of. I think Bobby is so much the ethos of who we are. He is the underdog. He fights. He grinds. There’s no one that cares more, in my opinion, about the Milwaukee Bucks than Bobby."
Portis first linked up with Milwaukee in 2020-21, and along with then-summer trade acquisition Jrue Holiday was one of the final pieces needed to put the team over the top en route to its first championship in 50 years. Portis is a high-motor sixth man who can help stretch the floor and can play extended minutes at both power forward and center.
Across his five regular seasons with Milwaukee so far, the 6-foot-10 Arkansas product boasts averages of 13.6 points on .494/.397/.776 shooting splits, 8.3 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 0.7 steals and 0.5 blocks per bout.
"He loves the Milwaukee Bucks," Horst revealed. "He feels like it’s a family, it’s a city and a fan base that’s embraced him. It’s an organization that’s embraced him. And he continues to give back to our organization and take less on the margins and do different things here and there. I felt like it was a tough negotiation with his agent, Mark Bartelstein, who I love in this business as much as anybody, and I thought we got to the right place. But it was a tough negotiation."
Ultimately, Horst revealed, Portis and Bartelstein decided to stick around Milwaukee for a few more years, even with the club's championship window now seemingly closed. Nine-time All-NBA power forward Giannis Antetokounmpo no longer has any All-Star-caliber sidekicks, and the Bucks will owe $22.5 million in dead cap money to stretched-and-waived former All-Star guard Damian Lillard over the next five seasons.
“Bobby chose us. Bobby wasn’t short on options, but he wanted to be here," Horst said. "He wants to win, and he wants to with this group of guys. He loves playing with Giannis. He loves the things that we’ve done in free agency. He was high on the guys that we brought back. He and I talked a lot about the roster and just his thoughts on different guys. And I’m just really excited he’s with us.”
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Category: Basketball
