Why the Milwaukee Bucks wanted Gary Trent Jr. back

Media day began for the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday, and of course, the topic of Gary Trent Jr. was brought up.

When it was announced by Shams Charania that the 27-year-old signed a four-year, $64 million deal to stay with the Bucks, everyone rubbed their eyes to make sure they were seeing it right. A few seasons prior, Trent signed a one-year deal for the veteran minimum in 2024, then a two-year, $7.58 million deal in 2025, making the jump to $15.2 million annually, shocking.

It becomes even more perplexing when you take a look at his numbers as he's came off one of the worst statistical seasons in his career averaging 8.1 points on 21.2 minutes per game, while shooting 38.7% from the field and 36% from the 3-point line.

With the massive jump in contracts and a poor statistical season, it caught the NBA's attention and as a result, the league launched an investigation on Trent and the Bucks of a potential salary cap circumvention.

After seeing the consequences that the Los Angeles Clippers faced for their own investigation of violating the salary cap, it created speculation that Milwaukee could face something similar or even worse for their deal with Trent reported by Joe Vardon of The Athletic.

The investigation is on-going and with that, comes the PR-trained answers from both Trent and General Manager Jon Horst, when they were asked about the situation. However, Horst did answer one question on the decision to bring back Trent and why it was important to bring him back to the roster.

"When you look at Gary Trent and what he's done for us in the last 2 seasons — and even before us in his young career — he's an elite shooter, Horst said. "I think one of 5 or 6 players to shoot and make the amount of 3s he has as a reserve over the last couple years. Only 27 years old. Was big for us in playoff moments, so there's a big belief in Gary for what we think matters, and that's elite shooting in the NBA that's hard to find. It's something that Taylor [Jenkins] values, and I think he's even going to maximize more with us, so it was a great opportunity for us to do that, and we acted on it."

Jon Horst on extending Gary Trent Jr.:

"When you look at Gary Trent and what he's done for us in the last 2 seasons — and even before us in his young career — he's an elite shooter, I think one of 5 or 6 players to shoot and make the amount of 3s he has as a reserve over the… pic.twitter.com/XH3WmmNDen
— Bucks Lead (@BucksLead) September 28, 2026

Horst calling Trent an elite shooter isn't inaccurate, and he has proven himself to be a great 3-point shooter throughout his eight seasons in NBA. Aside from his rookie season where he shot 26% from the 3-point line, he has not shot below 36% from three in his career and shot above 40% twice with one them coming in Milwaukee during the 2024-25 season.

When talking about big playoff moments, Trent stepped up in that same year against the Indiana Pacers in the first round of the playoffs, while the Bucks battled injuries with Damian Lillard. After averaging only 11.1 points per game during the regular season, Trent averaged 18.8 points and 2.6 steals per game on 51.6% shooting from the field and 50% from the 3-point line on 8.8 attemtps per game.

Trent also scored 37 points in Game 3 to help the Bucks win their only game in the five game series, and scored 33 points in a Game 5 overtime loss.

While Trent's recent contract has raised suspicions around the league, his shooting and those moments during the playoffs allowed Milwaukee's front office to doubled down on their offer to Trent and how they always valued him.

"Meanwhile, the Bucks have told rivals they believed Trent’s market value was the contract they awarded him, Vardon wrote. "Those same rival executives said Milwaukee maintained projections of likely free-agent contracts that show it always believed Trent would be a $15 million-per-year player on the open market."

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