The Golden State Warriors are still waiting on LeBron James, and that delay just cost them another name from the free-agent board.
Gary Trent Jr. is staying put in Milwaukee after agreeing to a four-year, $64 million contract with the Bucks, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania on Saturday. Trent had been part of sign-and-trade conversations with interested teams over the past week, and while it isn’t clear whether Golden State was among them, Warriors insider Tim Kawakami had floated him as a possible target for the front office on a smaller deal.
That option is gone now, and the price tag explains why Trent was always more of a stretch for Golden State. The 27-year-old wing is coming off a season in which he averaged 8.1 points, 1.0 rebound and 1.2 assists while shooting 38.7% from the field and 36% from 3-point range.
Still, Trent was one of the more appealing names left on the market. Over eight NBA seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers, Toronto Raptors and Bucks, he has averaged 13.0 points and shot 38.7% from deep, building a reputation as a strong perimeter threat.
For the Warriors, though, the larger issue remains the same: the James wait is shaping everything else. Golden State may still try to clear room for the full non-taxpayer mid-level exception if James signals he wants to head to the Bay Area, but that uncertainty has already narrowed their options elsewhere.
So far, the Warriors have not signed an outside player in free agency. Instead, they have mostly focused on bringing back their own names, a familiar pattern after Jonathan Kuminga’s restricted free agency last year.
Before free agency opened, Golden State signed veteran centers Al Horford and Kristaps Porzingis to new deals. Since then, the team has also brought back De’Anthony Melton and Charles Bassey.
With Melton back and LJ Cryer turning heads in summer league, the Warriors still have decisions to make on guard depth. Trent’s return to Milwaukee makes that search tougher, and it adds even more pressure to a LeBron decision that continues to hang over everything Golden State is trying to do.
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That is where the conversation gets interesting for Golden State. If Lendeborg keeps showing he can handle that kind of responsibility, he could become more than just a nice summer-league story and turn into a piece that changes how the front office views Butlers place on the roster. For now, it is all speculative, but the Warriors have at least created a new layer to a bigger decision they may have to make sooner rather than later. [Read more 🡒]
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Curry has already lived through this kind of calculation before, and the Warriors have benefited when the math tilted toward flexibility. The difference now is that the stakes are tied not just to roster construction, but to legacy, with every dollar potentially shaping how competitive Golden State can be in the years ahead. If Curry decides to keep that door open, it could give the front office a chance to chase more help around him. If he does not, the Warriors will have to find another way to make the numbers work. [Read more 🡒]