About a year ago, Khris Middleton offered more than a hint about how he felt about signing another contract with the Milwaukee Bucks over a smoothie and bagel sandwich in his hometown of Charleston, South Carolina.

“Even though I know you’re really not supposed to say it for all the reasons out there, but I think everybody knows deep down that I want to stay,” he told the Journal Sentinel last August.

Then, just as he was returning to practice following rehab from left wrist surgery, his father, James, suddenly passed away. Middleton told the Journal Sentinel that, “I got so many great people that I can lean on around here. Sadly, some people have been through it before. Then some people I can just go talk to and just have a distraction, get something off my chest, be myself.

“That’s why I love this place so much.”

So it should come as no surprise that Middleton has agreed to the third contract of his career with the Bucks, agreeing to a three-year, $102 million deal.

More: Jevon Carter leaves Milwaukee Bucks, agrees to three-year contract with Chicago Bulls

Middleton's agency announced the agreement to ESPN, which cannot be signed until the NBA’s free agency moratorium ends at 11:01 a.m. CT on July 6.

“I won a championship with that guy, played a lot of tough games, we won a lot of games, we lost a lot of games, he’s been by my side for 10 years now, you know, so it’s always good to go out there and battle with that guy because you know he never gives up, he’s always going to give everything for the team,” Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo said at the end of the season.

“He gotta do whatever is best for him and his family. I don’t think he has anything to prove to anybody. Now, I would definitely want him to be my teammate for the next 10 years and win another championship with him, but I understand that he has to do whatever is best for him and his family.”

Whatever is best proved to be continuing his partnership with Antetokounmpo and the Bucks.

Follow the latest: Milwaukee Bucks 2023 free agency tracker

The new contract turns the page on a long, difficult year for Middleton.

The three-time all-star missed the end of the 2022-23 playoffs due to a left knee sprain, and he was already playing through a torn ligament in his wrist.

After pausing his court work to return home to grieve the loss of his father, Middleton returned to action in December. But after only a handful of games, he told the Journal Sentinel he suffered blisters, a sprained ankle and suffered a right knee injury that caused swelling. He was shut down from Dec. 17-Jan. 21 and then slowly ramped up until he returned to the starting lineup on March 7.

He reinjured the knee against Chicago on April 5, and though he was clearly hampered in the Bucks’ first round playoff loss against Miami he still averaged 23.8 points on 46% shooting – including 40.6% from behind the three-point line – to go with 6.4 rebounds and 6.2 assists.

Middleton then had surgery on the knee in early May.

After playing just 33 games last season, Middleton elected to opt out of his $40.4 million player option to become a free agent, which allowed him to re-sign at a lower number for the 2023-24 season. It’s a move that will ease some of the franchise’s luxury tax burden.

More: The Milwaukee Bucks' Las Vegas summer league roster is set. Yes, that's the same Jabari Parker.

In his only media session since becoming the Bucks’ head coach, Adrian Griffin called himself an advocate for Middleton and considered him a “number one” on any other team and big piece of what the team is trying to do going forward.

After being acquired from Detroit before the 2013-14 season, Middleton signed contracts with the Bucks in 2015 and 2019.

He was an all-star in 2019, 2020 and 2022 and helped the United States to a gold medal in the Tokyo Olympic Games in the summer of 2021.

Middleton will turn 32 on Aug. 12, and will begin his 12^th season in the league and 11^th with the Bucks. He is already the organization’s all-time leader in made three-pointers made and attempted.

Provided he is healthy for the entirety of this next season, Middleton could be in position to move up to No. 2 in all-times games played and minutes played and No. 3 in points and assists. Should he play out the end of the contract, he would likely only trail Antetokounmpo in many all-time statistical categories.

More: On a path to forgiveness: Milwaukee Bucks' Meyers Leonard trying to atone for antisemitic slur

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Khris Middleton agrees to return to Bucks for 3 years, $102 million