Best and worst case outcome for Gary Trent Jr. with the Bucks

After three and a half seasons with the Toronto Raptors, Gary Trent Jr. signed a one-year deal earlier this offseason with the Milwaukee Bucks.

Viewed as the best bang for your buck signing of the offseason in the eyes of many, Trent is expected to play a crucial role for the Bucks in 2024-25, as he'll almost certainly be the starting shooting guard. In addition to his normal floor spacing duties, Trent will be given the most defensive responsibility of his career this coming season as he shares the backcourt with Damian Lillard.

With all that said, let us analyze the best and worst case outcome for Gary Trent Jr. as he aims to help the Milwaukee Bucks take home a title this coming season.

The best case scenario for Bucks' Gary Trent Jr.

The best outcome for Trent this coming season will be him asserting himself as a two-way force. It is expected that he'll provide excellent perimeter shooting, especially with all of the talent that will draw defenses away from him, but if he can do that while also asserting himself as a stalwart defensively by taking on tough matchups, his importance will increase further.

Trent has the chops to be a strong defender. At 6-foot-5 with a 6-foot-9 wingspan, he has the height and length to make things tough for opposing guards. He's known as a defensive disruptor due to his knack for earning steals at a high rate, but more than anything, the Milwaukee Bucks need Trent to find his footing as a great one-on-one defender this coming season to get the best out of him.

Trent shooting north of 40 percent from downtown while holding his opponents somewhere around 40 percent field goal shooting would certainly help the Bucks in their title chase.

The worst case scenario for Bucks' Gary Trent Jr.

With everything that was just said, the obvious worst case scenario here is that Trent fails to take on the tough defensive matchups while also struggling to find his footing as a shooter. If Trent is getting taken advantage of constantly on defense, it's going to hurt this team mightily, especially if he's also failing to sink his triples at a respectable rate.

Just last year, Bucks guard Malik Beasley was benched after starting for most of the year because the team needed more defense in the main lineup. Something similar could happen with Trent if he cannot assert himself on that side of things. Trent struggling to help defensively could be a sizeable blow to Milwaukee's title odds, given how much of a difference he could make on that end.

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