MILWAUKEE (AP) — Bobby Portis, one of the league's top reserves, declined his player option for next season and instead agreed to a three-year, $44 million contract to remain with the Milwaukee Bucks, agent Mark Bartelstein confirmed Sunday.
Portis has gotten votes for the league's sixth man of the year in three of the last five seasons.
ESPN first reported the deal, which replaces an option where Portis could have made $13.4 million.
The 30-year-old Portis has been a fan favorite since joining the Bucks for their 2020-21 championship season. He averaged 13.9 points, 8.4 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 49 games last season, one that included a 25-game suspension after he violated the league’s anti-drug program by testing positive for a banned substance. Portis insisted he did so inadvertently, saying he thought he was taking an approved substance while treating an elbow injury.
The season was trying for Portis in other ways as well. He missed time while grieving the death of his grandmother, and his home was burglarized.
In his five seasons with Milwaukee, Portis has averaged 13.6 points and 8.3 rebounds while shooting 49.4% from the floor and 39.7% from 3-point range. He entered the NBA in 2015 and played for the Chicago Bulls, Washington Wizards and New York Knicks before joining the Bucks.
Portis’ decision comes as 7-footer Brook Lopez heads into unrestricted free agency. Lopez, 37, has played for the Bucks since 2018 and averaged 13 points, 5 rebounds and 1.9 blocks in 80 games last season.
AP Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds in Miami contributed to this report.
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FILE - Milwaukee Bucks forward Bobby Portis (9) gestures after a basket during the second half of a first-round NBA basketball playoff game in Indianapolis, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Richard “Dick” Codey, a former acting governor of New Jersey and the longest serving legislator in the state's history, died Sunday. He was 79.
Codey’s wife, Mary Jo Codey, confirmed her husband’s death to The Associated Press.
“Gov. Richard J. Codey passed away peacefully this morning at home, surrounded by family, after a brief illness,” Codey's family wrote in a Facebook post on Codey's official page.
"Our family has lost a beloved husband, father and grandfather -- and New Jersey lost a remarkable public servant who touched the lives of all who knew him," the family said.
Known for his feisty, regular-guy persona, Codey was a staunch advocate of mental health awareness and care issues. The Democrat also championed legislation to ban smoking from indoor areas and sought more money for stem cell research.
Codey, the son of a northern New Jersey funeral home owner, entered the state Assembly in 1974 and served there until he was elected to the state Senate in 1982. He served as Senate president from 2002 to 2010.
Codey first served as acting governor for a brief time in 2002, after Christine Todd Whitman’s resignation to join President George W. Bush’s administration. He held the post again for 14 months after Gov. Jim McGreevey resigned in 2004.
At that time, New Jersey law mandated that the Senate president assume the governor’s role if a vacancy occurred, and that person would serve until the next election.
Codey routinely drew strong praise from residents in polls, and he gave serious consideration to seeking the Democratic nomination for governor in 2005. But he ultimately chose not to run when party leaders opted to back wealthy Wall Street executive Jon Corzine, who went on to win the office.
Codey would again become acting governor after Corzine was incapacitated in April 2007 due to serious injuries he suffered in a car accident. He held the post for nearly a month before Corzine resumed his duties.
After leaving the governor’s office, Codey returned to the Senate and also published a memoir that detailed his decades of public service, along with stories about his personal and family life.
“He lived his life with humility, compassion and a deep sense of responsibility to others,” his family wrote. “He made friends as easily with Presidents as he did with strangers in all-night diners.”
Codey and his wife often spoke candidly about her past struggles with postpartum depression, and that led to controversy in early 2005, when a talk radio host jokingly criticized Mary Jo and her mental health on the air.
Codey, who was at the radio station for something else, confronted the host and said he told him that he wished he could “take him outside.” But the host claimed Codey actually threatened to “take him out,” which Codey denied.
His wife told The Associated Press that Codey was willing to support her speaking out about postpartum depression, even if it cost him elected office.
“He was a really, really good guy,” Mary Jo Codey said. “He said, ‘If you want to do it, I don’t care if I get elected again.’”
Jack Brook contributed reporting from New Orleans.
FILE - New Jersey State Sen. and former Democratic Gov. Richard Codey is seen before New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy delivers his State of the State address to a joint session of the Legislature at the statehouse, in Trenton, N.J., Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
