Eventful year for AJ Green has former UNI star feeling ‘incredibly blessed’

DALLAS — The past year-plus has been quite eventful for AJ Green.

Not only has the Cedar Falls native and Northern Iowa product gone from being a two-way player with Milwaukee, he’s also now playing for his fourth different head coach since first signing with the Bucks in 2022.

Green, 24, broke into the NBA with Mike Budenholzer, who guided Milwaukee to its first league title in 2021. Budenholzer was fired in May 2023 and replaced by longtime assistant Adrian Griffin.

Griffin, too, was relieved of his dues in January and, after assistant Joe Prunty served as the interim boss for three games, Glenn “Doc” Rivers, a former NBA Coach of the Year who led Boston to the 2008 NBA title, was hired as the new full-time coach.

Playing for four different coaches in less than an year seems like a lot, but for this ex-Panther, it can be part of being a pro playing the game he loves.

“It’s part of the business of the NBA, but all I can do is my job, is to try and learn whatever the new changes or adjustments might be from coach to coach,” Green said. “I’m going to continue to do my job and control all the things that I’m in control of and just stay ready for any opportunity.”

After starting the Rivers era with losses at reigning NBA champion Denver and Portland to begin a five-game road trip in early February, the Bucks got Rivers his first “W” earlier this month in Dallas. Despite trailing by 25 points at one point in the first half, Milwaukee mounted a huge comeback.

Green was part of a first-half surge, scoring five points in six minutes as a nice spark off the bench in a 129-117 win at American Airlines Center.

Green and his teammates still are getting to know Rivers, who had been working as a television analyst for ESPN when the Bucks approached him about returning to an NBA bench. But Green likes what he’s seen thus far from someone regarded as one of the top 15 coaches in league history.

“Yeah, obviously (he has) a great reputation. I trust everything that he’s been doing so far and is going to continue to do with our team,” Green said after that win. “I think some things might take time, adjustments, and continuing to trust and build around each other.

“I have no doubt that come April and May, we’ll be in the place we need to be. He’s going to lead us there.”

Full-time NBA life for AJ Green

Last season, Green — the 2019 Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Year and two-time MVC Player of the Year at UNI — divided his time between Milwaukee, where he averaged 4.4 points and 1.3 rebounds over 35 games, including one start, and the Bucks’ NBA G-League affiliate, the Wisconsin Herd, where he averaged 20.3 points, five rebounds and 2.8 assists over eight contests, including six starts.

  Buy Photo

In November, the Bucks signed him to a standard NBA contract, meaning his days of shuttling between the Association and the G-League were over.

The 6-foot-4 guard has played in 36 games this season, averaging 4.3 points and 1.1 rebounds.

“Yeah, (the last year) has been good. It’s just been a continuous process of learning, growing, trying to get better as a player, and finding out ways that I can help the team, bring value to help the team win,” Green said. “It’s been a great year. It flies by.”

Green’s younger sister, Emerson Green, is a UNI junior who was averaging 10 points and 4.4 rebounds per game before an injury ended her season.

“She’s doing great. She’s definitely found a rhythm and gotten it going in conference play,” Green said of his talented sibling, before her injury. “I’m very proud of her and they’re doing a great job as well.”

Maybe the biggest change for Green over the past year happened in August. He and college sweetheart Kaylee Donner, a UNI volleyball standout and 2019 Gazette Athlete of the Year from Cedar Rapids Jefferson, tied the knot.

“We weren’t able to go on (a honeymoon yet) because she started school two days after our wedding, so we’ll probably end up going on one next summer,” Green said. I think we’re going to try to go to Greece — Santorini, Corfu, Athens, try and see as much as we can.

“That was pretty much the highlight (of the past year). Yeah, it (getting married) is tough to beat. Met her (during her) freshman year, my sophomore year. Yeah, (got married in the) middle of August. It was super-hot, but it was wonderful.”

And despite not hearing his name called on draft night in 2022, Green said he really can’t complain about his career on or off the court.

“(I’m) incredibly blessed. I take a step back and think about just to be here is a blessing, especially with the teammates I have,” he said. “You look around at the smiles everywhere, the great guys. To be a part of something like this, I’m trying to enjoy it really and make the most of it.

“The NBA season can get long. That’s what helps, is having guys (with personalities) like Brook and Robin (Lopez) and Giannis (Antetokounmpo) always smiling and laughing, Jae (Crowder), Cam (Payne). The energy, it’s not always serious and about basketball. You have that balance. It definitely helps make it more enjoyable.”

Stephen Hunt is a freelance writer based in Frisco, Texas.