The Milwaukee Bucks are currently amidst a tough stretch of results, a fact made worse by an injury to Giannis Antetokounmpo. While there are plenty more negative developments occurring during the team’s 1-3 stretch, one of the more glaring problems is Gary Trent Jr. The team’s starting shooting guard has been benched and is continuing to fail to impact games.
Milwaukee Bucks Shooting Guard Gary Trent Jr. Has Been Benched
After veteran shooting guard Gary Trent Jr. was somewhat of a bright spot during the Milwaukee Bucks’ horrendous 2024-25 Playoffs, some felt that the team would be priced out of being able to affordably re-sign him. After he inked a 2-year deal worth just over $7 million in the ensuing summer, many thought the move was good business.
Flash-forward to the 2025-26 season, and Trent Jr. has failed to play up to the price that some were calling a “bargain.” This season, Trent has shot the ball fine (37.4% from three), but is failing to impact the game outside of a couple makes beyond the arc. His rebounding is down, his defense has been subpar, and he has routinely felt invisible in terms of impact on the game.
It’s not as if head coach Doc Rivers has not noticed the issue. Trent was benched after the November 12 loss to the Charlotte Hornets, in which Trent went 1-5, had just 2 points, and was a whopping -25 in +/-. However, even moving the shooting guard to the bench has not changed much. In the following three games, in which the Bucks only won one game, a sloppy overtime revenge game against Charlotte, Trent has fared just as poorly. He has averaged 11 points, and although his shooting has improved slightly, his plus/minus of -60 through three games is shockingly bad.
Advanced Stats Show How Poor Gary Trent Jr. Has Been in 2025-26
Advanced stats are even less kind to Trent. For starters, the team’s net rating takes a wild swing upwards when Trent is off the court. Offensively, the Bucks’ offensive rating of 110.6 (which would be 24th in the league) jumps all the way up to 125.5 without Trent (which, acknowledging the limited sample size, would be #1 in the NBA).
Watching Trent play, the value he creates on offense when he is not having a good shooting game is almost nonexistent. This is absolutely reflected in the offensive rating numbers (stats courtesy of databallr).
While he was regarded as a capable 3-and-D player earlier in his career, defensive rating numbers reveal that Trent is just as poor on that end. The team’s 122.6 defensive rating (higher is worse) with him on the floor becomes 110.2 without Trent. Overall, the team’s net rating swings over 27 points with vs. without Trent.
He is not a good positional rebounder – opponent offensive rebounding percentage goes up when he is off the court. The same is true for opponent turnover percentage. In his last four games, Trent has just two total rebounds.
Man INVESTIGATE Gary Trent Jr and Bobby Portis I’ve seen ENOUGH pic.twitter.com/Q9ZQeSFavz
— Follow HeavenlyBuckets (@Heavenlybuckets) November 18, 2025
In a season where Milwaukee has found some unexpected production out of Ryan Rollins, are continuing to search for consistency off the bench with Cole Anthony, and have a possible Victor Oladipo comeback to look forward to, Trent has shown the coaching staff that they have work to do finding floor-spacers who can contribute to the game in other ways.
The reality of the Antetokounmpo injury is that most of the roster, including Trent, is going to have their chance to step up in the absence of the MVP-candidate’s otherworldly 31-11-7 production. Trent very well might be back in the starting lineup despite his struggles, and regardless, is going to have the opportunity to play his way back into Doc Rivers’ good graces.
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