The Milwaukee Bucks could only ride with Gary Trent Jr. for so long. Friday night against the Hornets, Doc Rivers finally made the change, starting Kyle Kuzma in Trent's place in a move that paid immediate dividends. For a struggling Trent, it feels all too familiar to the pattern that played out last season, where poor play landed him on the bench two weeks into the year.
More than just a mirage, Friday night feels like sign of things to come
Through 12 games as a starter, Trent averaged 10 points on 37.7/36.8/70.6 shooting splits. Before being benched, he fell short of double figures in five straight games. He had made a single field goal in each of his last two. His shot was out of sync, and his confidence seemed to waver, resulting in fewer attempts.
That's not what the Bucks envisioned coming in the year. Trent was supposed to supply some of the volume scoring the team needs outside of Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Defensively, he proved to be too small to guard opposing threes effectively. Bigger wings have bullied him into oblivion, and it's reflected in his numbers. Trent is off to a career-worst start in both offensive and defensive on-off rating. His combined rating sits in the bottom one percent.
Due in part to the Bucks' lack of true small forward options, Trent's starting stint this season lasted a bit longer than his seven-game trial in 2024-25. To be fair, he has not been as abysmal as last year, when he was shooting under 30 percent from the field at the time of his demotion. All the same, it has led to the same result.
That's not to say that he can't play his way back into the starting lineup. If 2025-26 follows suit, playing off the bench, at least for now, could help Trent get going. Maybe the Bucks will adopt a more matchup-dependent approach than rigidly committing to either Trent or Kuzma.
Maybe, too, starting Kuzma was a one-off maneuver, but that would be surprising coming off Kuzma's Bucks-career-high 29 points. Tellingly, Rivers stuck with Kuzma even after a poor showing on Wednesday when he filled in at the four with Giannis out. That lackluster outing seemed to confirm the notion that Kuzma is better in a bench role, but he came back two nights later and pie-faced his doubters.
True, it's only one game, and those doubts could be reaffirmed later, but it's hard to see Trent winning his job back in the short term, assuming the Bucks do, in fact, commit to Kuzma for now. He hasn't given them a reason to do otherwise.
In 21 minutes against Charlotte, Trent went 3-for-5 for eight points but logged a minus-15 box score plus-minus. That's not awful, but it's not convincing, either, especially when Kuzma registered a plus-25. If last night was any indication, the deja vu likely isn't going anywhere soon for Trent.