Milwaukee Bucks set to re-sign Gary Trent Jr. to a two-year free-agent deal
It is a 120% raise off his one-year, veteran minimum deal he signed with the Bucks late in the free agency period last year. The Bucks did not have to use portion of their non-taxpaying mid level exception (NTLME) to re-sign Trent, giving the team continued flexibility throughout the free agent period.
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Trent told the Journal Sentinel during the season he understood he needed to redefine what his value was in a league that was trying manage the restrictions of a new collective bargaining agreement that began in the summer of 2023.
Gary Trent Jr. shot a blistering 50% from behind the 3-point line in the Bucks' playoff series against Indiana while averaging 18.8 points per game and had two 30-point games.
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'The way the league is kind of being set up now there's kind of like no middle class,' he said last season. 'So you're either getting paid or you're not getting paid. There's no in-between no more due to whatever the (collective) bargaining agreement was. It's gonna be what it's gonna be."
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So Trent went about re-establishing that value last season by not only shooting 41.6% from behind the 3-point line (nearly a career high), but also being a solid team player. He made no complaints about being moved to the bench after a rough start to the season, and he never complained about his touches after averaging just 8.9 shots per game – his fewest since 2019-20.
'Stats don't equal to market value," he told the Journal Sentinel last season. "You can do a certain amount of stats or average something but it don't matter if the market doesn't value that or the market isn't there for that. You can still put in 1,000% work and get zero rewards for it. That's the life we live in. But again, you gotta continue to push and go out there make everything work and roll with the punches.'
Where Trent's value skyrocketed was in the Bucks' first-round playoff loss to the Indiana Pacers. In his first postseason appearance since 2022, Trent shot a blistering 50% from behind the 3-point line while averaging 18.8 points per game. He also had two 30-point games.
Trent's return theoretically slots him back into the staring shooting guard role he initially occupied last season before a slow start to the year both in his health and performance.
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Trent was a second-round pick of the Sacramento Kings out of Duke in 2018.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Bucks set to re-sign Gary Trent Jr. to a two-year free-agent deal
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