While so many teams around the NBA have shifted into Giannis Antetokounmpo trade-speculation mode, the Milwaukee Bucks need to be concerned about building upon what's already in place, unless their two-time MVP tells them otherwise. This task is a lot harder in the aftermath of Damian Lillard's disastrous Achilles injury, but that doesn't make it any less important.
If anything, the Bucks are under more pressure to get creative over the offseason. And that creativity must begin with Gary Trent Jr.
Milwaukee hit a home run by signing the now-26-year-old to a minimum contract last summer. Though his blunders played a role in the Bucks coughing up Game 5 against the Indiana Pacers, his detonation from deep is a huge reason why they were in position to extend their season at all.
Trent's scoring punch is even more critical to this team looking ahead toward next season. Not only is there a chance Lillard doesn't play at all, but Milwaukee dealt away Khris Middleton, its third-best offensive player, to Washington at the trade deadline.
The problem: Bringing back Trent won't be easy. It's also not impossible.
Gary Trent Jr.'s bargain-bin contract is coming back to haunt the Bucks
Milwaukee understands this dilemma all too well. It went through the same thing with Malik Beasley.
Since Trent is coming off a one-year free-agency deal to join the Bucks, they do not own his Bird rights. This means that, without cap space, they can only offer him 120 percent of his current salary, or use a version of the mid-level exception to keep him.
Retaining Trent using the former mechanism (also called non-Bird rights) is a non-starter. That would put Trent at $2.5 million for next season, which is barely more than the minimum salary of $2.3 million.
That leaves the mid-level exception (MLE). If the Bucks are able to access the non-taxpayer MLE, they can offer Trent a starting salary of around $14.1 million. This should be enough to keep him, when you consider that the Brooklyn Nets are the only team slated to have noticeably more money to spend. But giving that money to Trent would hard-cap Milwaukee team's salary at the First Apron, which is slated to check in at $187.9 million.
This isn't entirely unworkable for the Bucks. They will enter the offseason with nearly $28.2 million in room beneath the First Apron, according to Spotrac. But this number doesn't factor in re-signing Brook Lopez, or even Ryan Rollins. It also assumes Bobby Portis Jr. ($13.4 million) and Pat Connaughton ($9.4 million) pick up their player options. If Portis specifically opts out and requires a raise, Milwaukee will not have as much flexibility beneath the First Apron.
In the event the Bucks run out of wiggle room, they could look to offload other salary, and use the non-taxpayer MLE to keep Trent. They could also consider letting Lopez walk, and then do the same. But either route results in collateral damage, whether it's losing a key rotation player, or needing to include an asset to pawn off unwanted money.
Fortunately for Milwaukee, there is another path for it to explore.
This NBA rule could help the Bucks keep Trent
Back in November 2020, the Charlotte Hornets waived Nicolas Batum. Shortly thereafter, he joined the Los Angeles Clippers. That following offseason, he re-signed with L.A. on another cheapo deal, even though other teams would have offered him more. The reason? Early Bird Rights.
After being under contract with the same team for two consecutive years, Batum became an Early Bird free agent. This allowed the Clippers to offer him a 175 percent raise, or 105 percent of the league's average salary. In this case, the 105 percent was the bigger number. The league's average salary always comes in around the non-taxpayer MLE.
Milwaukee should attempt to game out Trent's future in a similar way. If it could convince him to sign for $2.5 million using non-Bird rights, it can then offer him a larger contract during 2026 free-agency to retain him.
For reference, the average salary for 2025-26 currently projects to be around $13.6 million. It will probably go up before 2026-27, but even if it doesn't, the Bucks could then offer Trent a starting salary of $14.3 million (105 percent of $13.6 million). A four-year deal at this rate, with 8 percent raises, would clock in at $63.8 million. Trent would also have the option of signing another shorter-term deal in 2026 with the Bucks, getting back into free agency by 2027, and re-signing at an even bigger annual number using full Bird rights, which basically allows Milwaukee to pay GTJ anything up to his max salary.
Trent isn't guaranteed to find a better fit than Milwaukee
Granted, there is inherent risk here for Trent. If he passes on more money now, and then he gets injured next season, he may not be able to recoup all he walked away from this summer. The Bucks can include a second-year player option as a safeguard, which Trent could exercise if his value implodes next season. But he would still be rolling the dice.
At the same time, the salary-cap landscape isn't currently set up for GTJ to get caps-lock PAID. Only the Nets are projected to have serious spending power, and they're in the early phases of a rebuild. Look at what happened to Beasley last summer, too. He outperformed the value of his contract in Milwaukee, and only ended up bagging a one-year, $6 million deal from the Detroit Pistons.
There is no guarantee Trent does much better, and even if he can, the Bucks can promise him a more prominent role than wherever else he lands. When the payoff at the end of the tunnel is as good or greater than what's on the table now, it's not hard for Trent to justify betting on himself. And the risk-reward profile is much easier to stomach when he's already racked nearly $60 million in career earnings.
All of this goes out the window if Milwaukee opts for—or is forced into—a wholesale pivot or teardown. For now, though, the Bucks must operate as if they're trying to maximize Giannis' window, and their ability to build around him. Figuring out how to keep Trent aligns with that agenda, and convincing him to follow the Early Bird rights course would optimize it.
Dan Favale is a Senior NBA Contributor for FanSided and National NBA Writer for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Bluesky (@danfavale), and subscribe to the Hardwood Knocks podcast, co-hosted by Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes.