Milwaukee Bucks Signing Sharpshooting Swingman Gary Trent Jr. in Free Agency

July 17, 2024Brook Lopez

Sharpshooting free agent former Toronto Raptors swingman Gary Trent Jr. has agreed to a new one-year contract with the Milwaukee Bucks, his Klutch Sports agents Rich Paul and Lucas Newton have informed ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

The exact terms of the deal have yet to be divulged.

The aging Bucks have been desperate for major offensive reinforcements following a disappointing 2023-24 season finish. Trent’s addition looks to be just what the doctor ordered, and given the team’s prohibitive cap situation, it seems likely he was inked to a steal of a deal.

Milwaukee is currently well into the NBA’s second luxury tax apron, meaning it only can ink free agents to veteran’s minimum deals. Due to the recently reworked Collective Bargaining Agreement, any team above the second apron will not be able to sign players to even a $5.2 million taxpayer’s mid-level exception.

Gary Trent Jr. #33 of the Toronto Raptors hits a three-point shot over Brook Lopez #11 of the Milwaukee Bucks to send their NBA game to overtime at Scotiabank Arena on January 4, 2023 in…
Gary Trent Jr. #33 of the Toronto Raptors hits a three-point shot over Brook Lopez #11 of the Milwaukee Bucks to send their NBA game to overtime at Scotiabank Arena on January 4, 2023 in Toronto, Canada. Trent is now set to become a Buck.
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This would represent quite the pay cut for the 25-year-old Trent. The 6-foot-5 shooting guard/small forward is fresh off a three-season, $51.8 million deal he had inked with the Toronto Raptors ahead of the 2021-22 season.

Prior to the announcement of this deal, the former Duke Blue Devil had been one of the best remaining free agents left on the board at this point in the offseason. Trent averaged 13.7 points while slashing .426/.393/.771, 2.6 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 1.1 steals a night across 71 contests (41 starts) for a lottery-bound 25-57 Toronto club in 2023-24.

Milwaukee general manager Jon Horst, despite being capped out this offseason, has enjoyed a quietly high-quality free agent offseason. Horst could rightly be criticized for bringing in two raw, high-upside picks in the 2024 NBA Draft in former Illawarra Hawks shooting guard AJ Johnson with the No. 23 pick and ex-G League Ignite combo forward Tyler Smith at No. 33.

Horst signed former 3-and-D Los Angeles Lakers combo forward Taurean Prince and now Trent, two reliable floor spacers, to a pair of team-friendly deals, when probably Prince and almost certainly Trent could have both stood to fetch better offers elsewhere.

After trading to acquire now-eight-time All-Star point guard Damian Lillard late into the 2023 offseason, the Bucks finished an erratic 2023-24 run with their second head coach of the year, Doc Rivers. The team also had a good-but-not-great record of 49-33, which secured the club the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference. But the Bucks couldn’t even advance beyond the first round of the playoffs, when All-NBA power forward Giannis Antetokounmpo missed the club’s entire first round series against the sixth-seeded Indiana Pacers with an injury, and Lillard sat out two of the team’s final three games in the series with an ailment of his own.

Depth has long been an issue for the Bucks, fielding a roster of pricey veteran starters in their “Big Four” of Antetokounmpo, Lillard, small forward Khris Middleton, and center Brook Lopez. Milwaukee at least has two reliable options to supplement those players’ scoring, still both squarely in their primes.

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