Gary Trent Jr.'s struggles can no longer be considered an early-season slump. He's been just flat-out bad for the Milwaukee Bucks. The wing, once upon a time pegged as one of the best bargain pickups in all of NBA Free Agency, has been a ghost for the Bucks, even with all of the injuries. It's gotten hard to ignore on a nightly basis.
Trent's struggles keep plaguing the Bucks
This season, Trent is averaging 9.8 points, 1.3 rebounds, and 0.9 steals per matchup while burying 38.6 percent of his shots. Despite averaging two more minutes per game this season, all of those numbers are down compared to his 2024-25 numbers. His 9.8 points are the fewest he's averaged since his sophomore season in 2019-20. Ouch.
Trent has gotten his opportunities, including 17 starts, which is already eight more than he had all of last season. However, he simply hasn't been able to capitalize. The player who averaged 18.8 points and 2.6 steals while shooting 50 percent from downtown in last year's NBA Playoffs has not checked into work for the Milwaukee Bucks this season.
Making matters worse is that the Bucks have desperately needed the wing due to all of the injuries this group has accumulated. Taurean Prince, one of the team's best shooters, has been out and isn't coming back anytime soon. AJ Green, another pristine sharpshooter, has been injured. Yet, when the Bucks have needed shooting, Trent has largely been a non-factor.
There's no clear diagnosis for Trent's struggles, but one obvious contributing factor may be the fact that he hasn't been as efficient on his wide-open looks. Last season, Trent led the team in "wide open" 3-point makes, going 102-for-226 (45.1 percent). This year, he has the fourth-most makes and is shooting 23-of-63 (36.5 percent). That's quite a dip.
Starting to hit those, which is obviously far easier said than done, feels like a great starting point for the wing's bounce back. Without Giannis Antetokounmpo in the lineup, that objective becomes more of a challenge, given the attention he commands, but Trent will still get his share of open looks. If he keeps playing at his current pace, he won't do much to vanquish his struggles.
The Milwaukee Bucks need all of the help they can get. As he showed in last year's postseason, Trent is more than capable of helping in a big way. He must find a way to overcome this conflict.
Stay tuned for more Milwaukee Bucks analysis.