The Fantasy Basketball Encyclopedia

Player Dossier · Milwaukee Bucks

Gary Trent Jr

Gary Trent Jr. is a threes-and-steals veteran whose new contract suggests organizational commitment, but whose 2025-26 decline, wing crowd, and NBA investigation make the workload unusually uncertain.

Team: Milwaukee Bucks · Position: SG/SF · Age entering season: 27 · Experience: 8 seasons

Base projection

GP MPG PTS 3PM REB AST STL BLK FG% (FGA) FT% (FTA) TO
62 14 5.6 1.4 0.8 0.8 0.4 0.1 .405 (5.2) .790 (0.7) 0.6

Correction 2026-07-18: raised from 8 to 14 MPG. The 8-minute base rested on the roster-squeeze thesis, and the contract cuts the other way. Trent's deal pays roughly $15.2M in year one on a four-year, $64M structure that is fully guaranteed, and a contract the league is actively reviewing for circumvention is one Milwaukee can neither waive cheaply nor trade. He played 21.2 minutes across 65 games last season. The wing room is genuinely crowded, so 14 rather than his prior workload — but 8 was a projection of a player being cut, not a player being played. Source: ESPN on the contract and investigation.

Fantasy case

Trent averaged 8.1 points, 1.9 threes, and 0.5 steals in 21.2 minutes across 65 games in 2025-26 while shooting .387. Milwaukee re-signed him to a reported four-year, $64 million deal, but Reuters reported on July 16 that the NBA opened a contract-circumvention investigation. The contract and investigation must both be treated as current facts; neither guarantees a rotation place or penalty.

Low case: a league ruling voids or reworks the contract, or Milwaukee eats it to clear a spot. Base: 14 MPG bench shooter, 1.4 threes. High: 22+ minutes after consolidation brings 2+ threes and roughly one steal, suitable for category streaming. FG% and negligible rebounds/assists remain liabilities.

Confidence

Roster medium-high · Minutes low-medium · Rates medium-high · Availability medium-high.

Sources

Learning notes

The reasoning error worth keeping is the one this file made first: treating a large guaranteed salary as evidence of expendability. A $15.2M cap hit is the reason a rebuilding team cannot make the player disappear, and the league investigation freezes the contract in place rather than loosening it. Trent is not draftable at 14 minutes and .387 shooting, but he is a rotation player, not a cut candidate.

Career record

Pre-NBA: Duke 2017-18 (one-and-done): 37 games, 33.8 MPG, 14.5 PTS, 4.2 REB on .415 FG / .402 3P / .876 FT. Draft: 2018, Round 2, Pick 37, Sacramento — rights traded to Portland on draft night.

Season Age Team GP MPG PTS REB AST STL BLK 3PM FG% FT% TO
2018-19 20 POR 15 7.4 2.7 0.7 0.3 0.1 0.1 0.3 .320 .429 0.3
2019-20 21 POR 61 21.8 8.9 1.6 1.0 0.8 0.3 1.8 .444 .822 0.3
2020-21 22 POR/TOR 58 31.1 15.3 2.6 1.4 1.0 0.2 2.8 .408 .783 0.7
2021-22 23 TOR 70 35.0 18.3 2.7 2.0 1.7 0.3 3.0 .414 .853 1.0
2022-23 24 TOR 66 32.1 17.4 2.6 1.6 1.6 0.2 2.5 .433 .839 0.8
2023-24 25 TOR 71 28.1 13.7 2.6 1.7 1.1 0.1 2.5 .426 .771 0.7
2024-25 26 MIL 74 25.6 11.1 2.3 1.2 1.0 0.1 2.4 .431 .848 0.6
2025-26 27 MIL 65 21.2 8.1 1.0 1.2 0.5 0.0 1.9 .387 .769 0.6
Career — — 480 27.2 13.0 2.2 1.4 1.1 0.2 2.4 .420 .819 0.7

Durability: 58-74 games every full season since 2019-20 — no major structural injuries; the misses are the routine ankle/soft-tissue variety plus the 2020-21 deadline move (41 games Portland, 17 Toronto). Availability has never been the problem.

Trajectory: The record peaked at 18.3 PPG with 3.0 threes and 1.7 steals in Toronto (2021-22) and has stepped down every year since — minutes, scoring, steals, and now efficiency (.387 in 2025-26, a career-low full-season mark). The 2026-27 competition is for a bench-shooter role in a crowded Milwaukee wing room, with the contract investigation adding noise. He becomes fantasy-relevant only if consolidation restores 22-plus minutes, where 2-plus threes and roughly a steal make him a category streamer despite the FG% drag.

Career sources: StatMuse season averages · StatMuse career per-game · Wikipedia

Open questions