The Bucks made a baffling move to bring back Gary Trent Jr. on a 4-year/$64 million deal, to say the least. The contract is bad at face value, but gets even worse when you consider that it's reportedly fully guaranteed with no team options. At a time when teams are increasingly using non-guarantees and team options to maintain flexibility on role player contracts, the Bucks just gave out a huge deal without either one for a guy that contributed practically nothing last season.
The Bucks messed up big time with Trent
Even without the absurd terms of the deal, re-signing Trent would have been a puzzling move for the Bucks. They have plenty of younger guards on the team desperately in need of opportunities to showcase their talents and potential. Bringing Trent back into that mess only creates more confusion about the team’s direction next season.
But the full terms of his contract make it hard to defend in any way for Milwaukee. Even if Trent regains the best form he’s shown during his Bucks tenure, he’s probably not worth his new contract for a rebuilding team. That means the Bucks may eventually need to package him with other assets just to get off his deal.
Since his contract offers no team flexibility, the Bucks will have a hard time trading Trent unless he exceeds the contract’s value. Any other team taking on that money will want compensation in some other form, whether it be an extra pick or prospect. Unless Trent has an unexpected resurgence in coming seasons, this contract will be a massive misstep on the parts of the Bucks front office.
Trent’s contract hurts the Bucks immediately
Not only does Trent’s re-signing foreshadow a future bad trade for the Bucks, it also hurts them right away. With him taking another roster spot, Milwaukee will likely need to let another guard go to make room. And nearly all the other guards on the roster have better value to the Bucks in a rebuild due to their age and potential.
On the other hand, Trent is now 27 and has likely already reached his peak form or close to it. He’s also coming off an exceptionally poor season with some injury concerns, so age could be working against him as soon as next season. There’s almost no possibility that Trent will be a major factor on the next Bucks playoff team, so committing a huge inflexible deal to him made no sense.
Without reasonable ways to get off Trent’s deal right away, the Bucks will be limited in their team-building efforts too. They might see free agents and trade targets pass them by in the next couple seasons while they’re forced to nurse the injury of Trent’s contract.
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