Jae Crowder's stint with the Milwaukee Bucks last season certainly didn't go as either side envisioned. Despite his struggles to get on the floor with Milwaukee in 2022-23, though, the veteran forward will be back to chase a championship with Giannis Antetounmpo and company next season.

Crowder signed a one-year deal to return to the Bucks on Saturday, per Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report.

Intel leading up to free agency suggested Crowder was always likely to re-up in Milwaukee despite lingering frustrations with his role in 2022-23. His self-imposed exile from the Phoenix Suns finally ended at the February trade deadline, when the Bucks sent a whopping five second-round picks to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for Crowder, who'd just been moved in the deal that sent Kevin Durant to the desert.

Instead of providing Milwaukee with the lineup versatility, two-way toughness and opportunistic three-point shooting P.J. Tucker did during the team's 2021 championship run, however, Crowder barely get on the floor with his new team. He notched a string of DNP-CDs toward the end of the regular season, making Crowder's lack of a meaningful rotation role in the Bucks' first-round playoff loss to the Miami Heat hardly surprising.

“I’m very confused as to why I was brought here. I don’t know my purpose here and why I was brought here,” he told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel after Milwaukee was eliminated. “I wasn’t expecting that, DNPs. I haven’t had them in my career, so why start now?”

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The dismissal of Mike Budenholzer surely played a part in Crowder's decision to remain with the Bucks. He relished playing with his Milwaukee teammates, and will enter 2023-24 with a clean slate under a new coaching staff led by Adrian Griffin.

“I would [re-sign], because in the locker room it's a great group of guys who puts work first and we have fun after that,” Crowder said in early May. “I can work in that type of environment and I really do appreciate my teammates for welcoming me. From day one it's just been love from that side.”