Let's cut right to the chase: there's not much of a logical reason why the Milwaukee Bucks just paid Gary Trent Jr. a reported $64 million in guaranteed money over the next four seasons. Nevertheless, I'll still attempt to make the case.
With eight years of NBA experience and more than 1,200 made threes under his belt, Trent has proven both in the regular season and Playoffs that he's a tough, talented perimeter shotmaker who can detonate off the catch-and-shoot or create enough daylight to nail a 3-pointer. Under different circumstances, with more free-agent money to go around, he'd likely have gotten around the mid-level exception from another team last summer, coming off a great Playoff performance vs. Indiana.
Instead, he listened to the Bucks' vision and bought into their idea of what he could be playing off a healthy, hungry Giannis Antetokounmpo and build off their Playoff success. It wasn't his fault that the season was ultimately lost, or that Doc Rivers couldn't figure out how to get him the ball or put him in positions to succeed. His value was driven down by factors outside of his control, and the inconsistency of his role was a detriment to his statistical output. So it was only fair for the team to make it up to him with a hefty, guaranteed contract running through his age 31 season.
Now that we've gotten that side out of the way, this one is a tough pill to swallow from a business and roster-construction standpoint. This is one of the rare contracts that seems to be inked for the sake of maintaining business relationships, more so than the basketball implications.
The Gary Trent Jr. contract seemingly put the Bucks in a financial bind to save face with Klutch.
It's hard to deny that Klutch Sports is one of the most powerful entities in the NBA. With some of the top young prospects, brightest stars, and the looming blessing of LeBron James himself, Klutch has legitimate sway in the business decisions of major league sports organizations throughout the United States. So with the representation of Rich Paul and Lucas Newton behind him, it was always a safe bet that Trent would get the money Milwaukee couldn't give him over the last two seasons.
Unfortunately, this takes much of the financial flexibility the Bucks bought themselves and flushes it down the toilet. They now have one too many guaranteed contracts for next season, and not enough minutes in the guard rotation to keep everyone involved.
It was suspected by Bucks fans that Trent would walk this summer to chase a greater opportunity with a contending team, but the market never seemed to materialize. It's hard to imagine that Trent would make anything close to this deal, which projects to start at $14.3 million next year and get up to $17.7 million by 2029-30. Although it's far from an untradable deal, so long as Trent gets his numbers back up, it puts them at an estimated $11 million away from the luxury tax line, which could worsen their flexibility in trades down the line.
It's a confounding move, strictly from a business sense, that seems to put the relationships with Trent and Klutch above the team itself. With that said, I'm still a fan of Trent's game and what we've seen of his personality. He seems to be making a positive veteran impact on a young team, which is incredibly important at this stage of a retool.
So maybe it won't age as poorly as current public sentiment would lead you to believe. Only time will tell.
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