Are the Bucks Ready to Commit to Ousmane Dieng and Cam Thomas? What Ryan Rollins' QO Decision Suggests
The latest stretch has thrust Ousmane Dieng and Cam Thomas into sharper focus for Milwaukee’s immediate plans, and the looming free-agent decisions this summer could shape the roster. The conversation around those choices also revives a past front-office move: the club declined a qualifying offer for ryan rollins in summer 2025, a precedent that helps clarify one path the team might take again.
On-court case: Ousmane Dieng and Cam Thomas' late-season bursts
In the Bucks’ final two games before the break, Ousmane Dieng delivered what was described as a coming-out party. Across those contests he shot 13-of-22 from the floor, including 8-of-14 from three, totaling 36 points over 59 minutes. He also added 14 rebounds, 4 blocks, 6 assists and recorded zero turnovers, and produced a career-best three-point performance in the second Orlando game.
Cam Thomas offered a contrasting but complementary profile in that same window. He had a modest 5-of-13 outing for 12 points in the win at Oklahoma City, and the night before he led the team with a game-high 34 points in Orlando. That sequence reinforced Thomas’ established role as a scoring spark in non-Giannis minutes.
Ryan Rollins example and Dieng’s qualifying offer decision
Both Dieng and Thomas enter the offseason as free agents. Dieng would become a restricted free agent if the team extends an $8. 8 million qualifying offer; in that scenario the club could match any offer presented by another team. If the qualifying offer is declined—mirroring the approach taken with ryan rollins in summer 2025—Dieng would be unrestricted and free to sign anywhere.
Importantly, regardless of restricted or unrestricted status, the team retains Bird rights for Dieng, which means they could compensate him up to the maximum without a direct salary-cap limit tying their hands. That contractual detail frames a clear decision point: extend the qualifying offer and keep match rights, or decline and accept unrestricted movement while retaining Bird rights.
Cam Thomas’ Non-Bird status and payroll implications
By contrast, the club holds only Non-Bird rights for Cam Thomas because he changed teams in free agency. That distinction limits the mechanisms available to re-sign him. With a projected lack of cap room, the team would need to use an exception to put a new deal on the table in July, so Thomas’ path to a new contract is governed by a narrower set of financial options.
Fan pulse and the poll framing the offseason debate
The organization’s weekly tracker has been running a poll to capture fan sentiment on these exact choices. The current Tuesday Tracker poll asks whether the team should re-sign Dieng and Thomas and, if so, how. The poll window runs through midnight Central on Friday, with results scheduled to be posted later that day. Poll questions also include a bonus prompt about the All-Star game format and a broader query on the merits of tanking versus pushing for the playoffs.
The tracker notes that fans generally reacted positively to recent trade-deadline moves, and that the vocal minority calling for a major trade of the franchise star remains a minority view within the community.
What’s next
The coming weeks will reduce uncertainty only to the extent that the club makes a qualifying-offer decision and outlines its summer contract posture. Dieng’s two-game surge and Thomas’ scoring outbursts are the concrete on-court inputs; the contractual mechanics—qualifying offer status, Bird rights, and Non-Bird limitations—are the administrative constraints. The poll running this week will capture fan sentiment on those trade-offs before the offseason begins in earnest.
