Northern Iowa's AJ Green agrees to two-way contract with Milwaukee Bucks

AJ Green has his next basketball home.

Although the former Cedar Falls High School standout and Northern Iowa star went unselected in Thursday's NBA Draft, Green has agreed to a two-way contract with the Milwaukee Bucks. ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski was first to report the deal.   

Players on two-way contracts are paid a flat rate that is equal to half of the league’s minimum salary (that minimum salary is set for $953,000 for the upcoming season according to Spotrac). However, these contracts are not guaranteed, so the players can be cut at any point and will only receive their salary up to that point. Teams can have up to two players on two-way contracts at a time, in addition to their 15 normally allocated roster spots. Players on two-way contracts can eventually be converted to regular contracts.

After entering the transfer portal while declaring for the draft in late April, Green opted not to return to school and remain in Thursday’s event earlier this month. That surprised some, given his uncertain draft status and quality college options that would’ve come down to Iowa State or Duke. But Green was rewarded for betting on himself with a reasonable path to an NBA roster.

Once Green’s collegiate career ended with an NIT loss to BYU on March 19, the 6-foot-5, 198-pound guard went through the NBA’s pre-draft process for the second time in his career. Green garnered numerous workouts with individual teams, as well as a spot at the G-League Elite combine in Chicago last month. The information absorbed there led to Green remaining in the draft.   

Green heads to the professional ranks after a solid UNI tenure that spanned four seasons and included two Missouri Valley Conference regular-season titles. Individual accolades were abundant too, as Green was named conference player of the year twice — 2020 and 2022 — as well as MVC freshman of the year in 2019. The only year Green didn’t finish with an end-of-season award was 2021, which he missed the bulk of after undergoing surgery on both hips.

Green finished his collegiate career ranked among UNI’s best in several categories. He’s fourth all-time in points scored (1,769), second in made 3-pointers (266), first in 3-pointers attempted (704) and first in career free-throw percentage (90%).

Dargan Southard covers Iowa and UNI athletics, recruiting and preps for the Des Moines Register, HawkCentral.com and the Iowa City Press-Citizen. Email him at msouthard@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter at @Dargan_Southard.