Ryan Rollins, Milwaukee Bucks, Steph Curry, Golden State Warriors
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Stephen Curry #30 of the Golden State Warriors dribbles the ball against Ryan Rollins #13 of the Milwaukee Bucks during the second quarter at Fiserv Forum on October 30, 2025 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
With the four championships over the past ten years, it is hard to find anything to critique about the Golden State Warriors.However, one pitfall of the franchise has been theability of the front office to scout and retain young talent, and five games into the 2025-26 NBA season, that has haunted Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Steve Kerr, and the Warriors as a whole.
Most recently, it was a career night from Ryan Rollins of the Milwaukee Bucks that beat Golden State. Without Giannis Antetokounmpo, Rollins finished with 32 points, including the game-clinching shot, the best game of his career, in his third season with the Bucks, after he spent his rookie year with the Warriors in 2022-23.
Speaking after the game in a post on theBucks’ X account, Rollins sent a playful message to his former team, after what has been called a ‘revenge game‘for the 23-year-old.
“What up dub dub nation! Good dub, great dub!”he said, trolling theWarriors’ nickname for its fanbase. “We gotta keep it going now, yessir.”
Even without Antetokounmpo, it was Rollins leading the way for Milwaukee over the mostly healthy Golden State roster. After the loss, both Curry and Kerr made their feelings clear that a loss like this, against what might be considered ‘non All-Stars’, doesn’t bode well for the future.
Curry And Kerr On Warriors Loss
Both Curry and Kerr had different reactions to the loss. For the three-point shooter, he had played with Rollins in the past and knew the type of space he would find to get easy looks. Now with a bigger role on a new team, Curry said he was happy for the young star, but thatdidn’t change his feelings on falling short.
“Shooting shots whenhe’s open. It seems like the game has slowed down enough whenhe’s making proper reads,”Curry said. “You obviously saw it tonight, he played fearless out there …I’m happy for him, butI’m also pissed off.”
For Kerr, hedidn’t focus as much on the impact of losing to a player who was formerly on the team. While some might point to that as one of the biggest reasons the Warriorshaven’t had as much success since Kevin Durant left in 2019, the coach offered a different, surprising reason why this latest loss is eating at him.
“Itshouldn’t be that way,”Kerr said, recalling his nervous emotions after hearing Antetokounmpo would sit out with knee soreness. “Causewe’re like 0-12 the last couple years when the starsdon’t play.I just told our coaches, if I was an opposing coach, I wouldjust sit the star every time.”
While hedidn’t name Rollins directly, Kerr praised the league as a whole forhaving so much depth. In a game where few people had high expectations for Milwaukee, it was Rollins, Cole Anthony, and Myles Turner leading the way.
“Every NBA team is loaded with talent. You saw those guys out there, firing 3s,”he added. “Everybody can play in this league, and when the star sits, everybody gets excited. This game did not surprise me, frankly.”
Ryan Rollins Revenge Game Vs. Warriors
Before his latest 32-point outing,Rollins’ career high was 25 points, which he scored in theBucks’ previous game. Through five contests, he is now averaging 18.6 points, 3.6 rebounds, and five assists on 52.4% shooting to begin the year.
While he might not be a Damian Lillard replacement for Milwaukee, his offense has beena great sign for the team. Rollins appeared in just 12 games in his rookie season for the Warriors in 2022-23, but is now playing the best basketball of his career.
Though it was a limited time, Rollinshasn’t forgotten about his short tenure in the Bay Area. After Green, known for playing mind-games with some physicality involved, knocked Rollins to the ground during the game, the rising star said that was all the motivation he needed to send a message to his former squad.
“I didn’t expect anything different.Ikind of liked it. Just turns me up a little bit more. It was fun, though,”Rollins said. “Just use that energyto just keep playing hard, use it on whatever end, the next play, whether offense or defense…Like I said, it turns me up, so, Ijust, I like to bump, so, I liked that.”
But while that minor scuffle with Green and Jonathan Kumingadidn’t end up mattering by the final whistle, Rollins only had praise for Curry.
“My first year wasvery fast for me, too, so he was a great, down-to-earth dude,”Rollins said of Curry. “Him being Steph Curry, him just being so down to earth and humble and just how he talked to me when I was just coming in and for who he was at that time, his stature, (it was) very humbling.”