It's been a summer of change for the Milwaukee Bucks, and their season opener on Wednesday allowed the new faces to make their marks. Plenty of positives happened on the court, but one notable storyline was who didn't see the floor. The Bucks' re-signing of Gary Trent Jr. raised eyebrows when he inked a four-year, $64 million deal, and it's been made even worse by the fact that he didn't play a single second against the Wizards.
Bucks are paying Trent a lot of money for DNPs
The NBA's investigation into the deal is still ongoing, as many believe the deal was a form of cap circumvention after the guard took consecutive minimum deals to stay in Milwaukee, only to sign a massive deal following a down year. Trent only appeared in two preseason games, going 0-for-8 in the second of those against the Charlotte Hornets. That, paired with him not playing in the opener, condemns the team to the reality that this deal will be incredibly difficult to justify.
This isn't the final year of an aging player on an expiring deal; this is the first year of a monster $64 million deal, and him not even getting a chance to prove the doubters wrong is troubling.
If he is able to get back to his career-best years, where he averaged 18.3 points in Toronto, it would make the deal somewhat more acceptable, but he just averaged the lowest points per game of his career outside of his 15 games in his rookie year. He clearly hasn't garnered the faith of Taylor Jenkins yet, and that puts the Bucks in a position with an extremely expensive deal that will only become harder to move as the season progresses.
Trent has his work cut out to get back in the rotation
With the NBA-level players on the roster and the cap space available, the Bucks will continue to be a player in the trade market as they look for returns on their veterans and further rebuild their draft capital. Moves may open up the chance for Trent to nail down a spot in the rotation, but he is so far behind the other guards right now.
Kasparas Jakucionis and Brayden Burries both had stellar preseasons and then had impressive debuts where they showed plenty of promise. As a backcourt pairing off the bench, they have those spots tied down right now. AJ Green added six points, and he is clearly ahead of Trent despite needing to add more to his game; otherwise, he may fall even further behind in the depth chart.
Milwaukee is clearly leaning into the youth, as shown by their rotations, but also waiving Kevin Porter Jr. to create even more opportunities for their young guards. It felt like Trent likely wouldn't be on the roster this season following his down year, but the Bucks now look stuck with that deal.
Seeing the Bucks leaning into the youth is a real positive, but wow, it is a slap in the face to have a player not seeing the floor in his first year of a 4-year, $64 million deal.
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