Milwaukee Bucks sign guard Gary Trent Jr. to a 1-year deal after agreeing Tuesday
The Milwaukee Bucks signed guard Gary Trent Jr. on Saturday, rounding out the team’s free agent class with a starting-caliber scorer just entering the prime years of his career.
Trent agreed to a one-year, veteran minimum deal Tuesday. The minimum for Trent, who has six years of service time before this season, is $2,613,120. The NBA reimburses teams who sign veterans with three or more years of service to prevent clubs from ignoring older players – so only $2,087,519 of his contract counts against Milwaukee’s books.
The Bucks entered the 2024 free agency period as a team with limited roster-building flexibility as a second-apron team, which means they could only offer minimum contracts to free agents.
The Bucks signed draft picks AJ Johnson and Tyler Smith, leaving three potential roster spots open for veterans – which they filled with Trent, Delon Wright and Taurean Prince.
More: What a strong free agent summer means for the Milwaukee Bucks heading into next season
Though Trent has reserve experience, he started 169 of the 224 games he played for Toronto from 2021-24. He averaged 16.4 points in about 32 minutes per game with the Raptors, shooting 38% from behind the three-point line.
The 6-foot-5, 209-pounder seems like a natural fit alongside Damian Lillard in the backcourt for the Bucks, and the pair did play together in Portland from 2018-21 before Trent was traded to Toronto.
Trent is a career 38.6% three-point shooter with a 14.3 scoring average.
A second-round pick of the Sacramento Kings out of Duke in 2018, Trent will turn 26 years old on Jan. 18.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee Bucks sign guard Gary Trent Jr. to veteran minimum contract