The Milwaukee Bucks have put themselves in a mess, and Gary Trent Jr.’s new deal sits right at the center of it.
Trent signed a four-year, $64 million contract with every dollar guaranteed, a move that has already drawn serious criticism. His rough season in Milwaukee only makes the price tag look worse. He was inefficient and nowhere near as effective as he had been in previous years, which is why he had been on a minimum contract in the first place.
That contract has now created a roster squeeze, and during an appearance on Third Apron, Sam Quinn of CBS Sports floated Tyler Herro as a possible trade candidate to help clear up the guard logjam. But moving Herro for that reason would be a disaster.
Herro is an All-Star, and he was the focal point of the Giannis Antetokounmpo trade. Shipping him out mainly to make room for Trent would be a huge mistake, especially if the return is something like a deal with the Detroit Pistons. Milwaukee would be wasting one of its best players just to cover for a bad contract.
The Bucks should only consider trading Herro if the right package comes along. Doing it simply because Trent is already on the roster is the wrong answer.
And the roster crunch is real. Milwaukee currently has Herro, Trent, Kasparas Jakucionis, Ryan Rollins, Caris LeVert, Brayden Burries, and Kevin Porter Jr. all in the mix, with most of them needing minutes.
From a development standpoint, Jakucionis, Burries, and probably Rollins should be getting run. Herro, meanwhile, is the best player on the team and needs to play.
That’s what makes this whole situation so frustrating. Quinn’s suggestion isn’t the wild part. The wild part is that Milwaukee handed Trent this contract in the first place, creating a problem that now tempts the Bucks toward an even worse move.
The Trent deal already looks like one of the worst of the summer, and maybe one of the worst in recent memory. Trading Herro just to clean up the fallout would only make it uglier.
In Other News...
Bucks Fans Have A New Gary Trent Concern They Can't Ignore
Gary Trent Jr. is already giving Bucks fans something to watch beyond his fit on the floor. After opting out of his previous contract and landing in Milwaukee, the guard arrives with a deal that has drawn attention around the league, not just because of the money involved but because of the questions it has stirred about how the move came together.
Around the NBA, rival teams have been sizing up Trents market and privately wondering whether Milwaukee paid well beyond where he was valued. The league has no shortage of bigger headlines right now, with LeBron James still weighing his next move, but for the Bucks this is the kind of transaction that can linger if outside scrutiny keeps building. [Read more 🡒]
Bucks Suddenly Face A Bigger Jaime Jaquez Question Than Expected
Jaime Jaquez Jr. arrives in Milwaukee with the kind of contract setup that usually buys a team time, not urgency. He has one season left before restricted free agency, and the Bucks still control the right to match any outside offer next summer, so there is no immediate roster alarm around his future even as he settles in and adjusts to a new group.
Jaquez has made clear he is not spending much energy on the contract side right now, preferring to focus on fitting into the Bucks roster. The bigger question for Milwaukee is how quickly that fit turns into a larger on-court role, because a player in his position can go from useful addition to essential piece faster than the calendar suggests. [Read more 🡒]