Gary Trent Jr.’s tenure with the Toronto Raptors is over.
On July 16, Trent Jr. came to terms on a one-year, veteran minimum deal with the Milwaukee Bucks.
This means Trent Jr. signed well below his market value after making $18.6 million last season with Toronto. With the new CBA in place, teams are more strategic when it comes to spending money.
Even though Trent Jr. had to take a massive pay cut, he can re-enter the market next June with the hopes of securing a bigger pay day.
One of the main reasons why Trent Jr. ended up singing with the Bucks on the minimum is because he wanted to be reunited with Damian Lillard, via Blake Murphy of Sportsnet:
“Trent was left to make a difficult choice. In the end, he opted to reunite with Damian Lillard and contend for a championship on a one-year minimum ($2.6 million) rather than taking multi-year offers at the smaller mid-level ($5.2 million in Year 1) that were on the table, according to league sources.”
This reasoning makes sense. Trent Jr. spent his early days in the NBA playing alongside Lillard in Portland. He will also be starting for a Bucks team that will be trying to compete for a title this season.
If all goes well and he performs at a high level, the 25-year-old could easily earn a pay raise next summer.
Trent Jr. averaged 13.7 points, 2.6 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.1 steals on 42.6 percent shooting from the field and 39.3 percent shooting from three-point range this past season with the Raptors.
Toronto was set to move on from Gary Trent Jr.
When free agency kicked off, the market dried up quickly and Trent Jr. was stuck in limbo.
Toronto was already set to move on from Trent Jr. with their guard room filled up after the 2024 NBA Draft.
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