Grading Gary Trent Jr.'s Bucks debut: Guard shows importance in 1 vital area

After an offseason full of hype surrounding the signing, Gary Trent Jr. made his regular season debut with the Milwaukee Bucks in their season-opener.

Taking on the Philadelphia 76ers, Trent's primary duty would revolve around slowing down star guard Tyrese Maxey. With Philly's Joel Embiid and Paul George both out, Maxey was going to have the ball in his hands a lot more, making Trent's job all the more important. He embraced the challenge and went up against Maxey all night long.

While not perfect, Trent flexed strong defense in opener

Being more physical defensively was clearly a prominent point of emphasis for the Milwaukee Bucks heading into the new season. Not only did Taurean Prince, who had an incredible debut, give them an edge on that side of things with his aggressiveness, but Trent joined him in showing that teams won't just stroll by Milwaukee's perimeter defenders this season.

Though not perfect, as Maxey did get the best of him here and there, Trent did a solid job of limiting the All-Star's production. Overall, it was a tough showing from Maxey, who finished with 25 points on 10-of-31 shooting (32.3 percent), including just 2-of-9 from deep (22.2 percent). Trent's physicality played a major part in throwing the star guard off of his game.

The wing's defense is one of this team's biggest X-factors, so it was welcoming to see him start the season off on the right foot against a tough matchup. He did earn five fouls, the most obvious sign of his aggressiveness on defense, but that will come with these difficult defensive matchups.

Offensively, it was a well-balanced attack from Trent, who finished with 11 points, having shot 3-of-6 from the floor, including 2-of-5 from deep. He was also a perfect 3-of-3 from the stripe. With how hot Damian Lillard was offensively and with just how well fellow newcomer Taurean Prince was shooting it from deep, Trent didn't get many touches, but he oftentimes made the most of it when he did.

Trent's role on offense may change from game to game this year. There will be times when he gets a dozen looks from 3-point range, and there may be games where he gets one to two. In a matchup like this, where he has such a difficult primary assignment defensively, most of his energy will be directed toward the defense end, and he won't get up a ton of shots.

Sure, it would have been nice for Trent to cut back on the fouls, but he gets some slack for having to take on such a tough matchup. With 11 points and two rebounds on splits of 50/40/100, this can be considered a strong debut by the Milwaukee Bucks' new starting two guard.

BTBP Grade: A-

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