Even during a painful summer, the Bucks’ most controversial offseason move was bringing back Gary Trent Jr on a 4-year/$64 million deal. Unfortunately, Trent failed to change public perception about his new contract during Milwaukee’s preseason opener, as he finished shooting 3-of-9 from the field for 11 points in 18 minutes.
The Bucks front office was adamant during media day that Trent would live up to his contract, but there’s no sign of that just yet. Instead, Trent occupied his expected role off the bench and failed to make a huge impact in his first time suiting up with the new contract.
There were no surprises with Trent
The one bright spot in Trent’s performance was that he shot 3-of-8 from 3-point range, a very respectable 37.5% on high volume. But his overall stat line shows that he’s a very one-dimensional player at this stage of his career.
Trent only took one shot inside the arc and earned two free throws too. He isn’t really helping the Bucks in any way besides his shooting. Trent added just one assist and one rebound as his only other statistical outputs.
At one point, Trent was also considered a strong perimeter defender but those days are behind him now. That decline was already apparent over the last two seasons, which made his new contract such a surprise. The Bucks do need more help in their perimeter defense, but it’s unlikely that their $64 million man will be the one to provide it.
Hopefully Trent can show more in the regular season
It would be premature to predict a player’s upcoming season just based on a preseason opener. But Trent’s first preseason game just felt like a continuation of the same trajectory he’s been following since he arrived in Milwaukee. He only confirmed the worst fears that fans were harboring since he signed his contract.
Trent might play better in the regular season once he develops into a better rhythm and establishes some chemistry with his new teammates. There’s been a lot of turnover on the roster from last season thanks to the Giannis Antetokounmpo trade, so it’s only fair that the Bucks won’t be at their best right out of the gate.
But Trent’s role will be hard to place on a rebuilding team. He’ll turn 28 during the season, so he’s firmly on a different timeline than the team’s most promising players. Keeping him around isn’t necessarily a negative, but committing so much money to him is puzzling to say the least.
However, the Bucks can’t do anything at this point but hope that Trent makes a bigger impact. Whether it’s by proving himself as an elite shooter or adding veteran leadership to a young team, Trent will need to be better to even remotely justify his contract.
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