Keeping Gary Trent Jr. should be the Milwaukee Bucks' top priority in NBA Free Agency after the year he just had. To do so, Milwaukee will undoubtedly have to dip into its mid-level exception, a tool worth $14.1 million that they can use to sign free agents. That money will be the Bucks' best asset to beef up the roster in free agency, and the question is how much of it Trent will command.
The great thing about the exception is that it's pretty flexible. If the Bucks really like one free agent, they can offer it all to them. If they want to offer someone more than the minimum but not the entire exception, they can do so and still have some money left over. Just how much of that exception the Bucks offer to Trent will be a key question mark heading into free agency.
Keeping Gary Trent Jr. is an obvious move for the Bucks
To be clear, if Trent wants the entire exception, the Bucks should offer it to him. Despite a late-game blunder in Game 5, Trent had an exceptional playoff showing, averaging 18.8 points and 2.6 steals in Milwaukee's first-round series. The wing was a playoff riser, and those types of players do not grow on trees. The Bucks need more of those, so keeping Gary Trent Jr. makes plenty of sense.
At 26, he's still young and could be the starting shooting guard of the future for this franchise. He has building block written all over him. If the Milwaukee Bucks run it back with Giannis Antetokounmpo, he would likely love to have a smooth-shooting bucket getter and hustle-first wing like Trent on the floor with him nightly.
While he'd be worth the entire thing, Trent has shown that he's willing to take a pay cut if it helps put the franchise in a better position to win. Last offseason, he signed a minimum deal with the Bucks. No one could fault him for wanting a raise, and Milwaukee could give that to him, even if he were to take another pay cut to give the team more flexibility.
Even if Trent were to take up around half of the exception, that would be a nice raise for him that would also help Milwaukee remain flexible. That could be useful in helping to retain other players, such as Kevin Porter Jr. and Ryan Rollins. Perhaps the Milwaukee Bucks could use some of that money to address their question marks at center.
No matter what, Trent has earned a raise. Time will tell how much it is.
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