FA: Gary Trent Jr. Signs with MIL | 1yr/ ??mil

[SleepingHero]

Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) 
Free agent G Gary Trent Jr. has agreed on a one-year deal with the Milwaukee Bucks, Rich Paul and Lucas Newton of @klutchsports tell ESPN. Trent reunites with Damian Lillard and joins a Bucks organization that recruited him hard to chase a title with them.

[F Gump]

Expected to be Minimum salary, One year deal (league subsidized). Quite a bargain.

[KillerLeft]

Expected to be Minimum salary, One year deal (league subsidized). Quite a bargain.

I just don't get the motivation to sign a 1-year from his perspective. 

I get the "bet on yourself" play, and I'm confident he's chosen a reasonably good destination to showcase his skills in a meaty role on a good team. That part makes sense. But, if you're going to do it, why not go ahead and lock in that 2nd year on a PO? Nobody will have his bird rights after this - he'll be right where DJJ was this summer, which means the absolute best he'll be able to expect is someone's MLE, and as we've seen, a lot of teams aren't able to or choosing to even use that. 

Does he have reason to believe that will be any different a year from now? I might be wrong, but I don't think the problem with him, specifically, is that his rep is down after a bad year. I think the league LIKES his game but just doesn't value it as highly as he expected.

With bird rights, at least he puts himself in position to potentially carve himself out a bigger contract down the line, even if it's only for Bruce Brown "we're angling to make a trade" reasons, like what Indiana just did to get Siakam (we're not giving them enough credit for that planning, btw).

[F Gump]

I just don't get the motivation to sign a 1-year from his perspective. .

Likely it's the only choice he has. 

MIL payroll is really tight against the 2nd apron, and I assume they are only offering a one-year minimum, to lessen the cap hit. This is the same thing DJJ/Mavs did last summer.

[Chicagojk]

Nice get by Milwaukee. I was worried he would go to Denver and replace a good amount of what KCP does at the fraction of the cost. He is not a game changer but would have been a nice competently piece in Denver. So glad he stayed in the East. I actually like him better in Milwaukee than the guy he is replacing.

[KillerLeft]

Likely it's the only choice he has. 

MIL payroll is really tight against the 2nd apron, and I assume they are only offering a one-year minimum, to lessen the cap hit. This is the same thing DJJ/Mavs did last summer.

Ok, but...does the deal being a two-year (or a 1+1 with a PO, really) affect this season's cap hit?

[F Gump]

Ok, but...does the deal being a two-year (or a 1+1 with a PO, really) affect this season's cap hit?

Yes.

On a one-year minimum, any dollars above the 2-year-vet minimum are paid by the NBA, and not charged to cap or tax or apron calculations. But that league subsidy is only applicable for a barebones one-year pact, with no incentives or options.

The difference is not a big number (in the world of NBA salaries). But sometimes every little bit matters.

MIL also gave that sort of deal to Delon Wright and Taurean Prince this summer.

[KillerLeft]

Yes.

On a one-year minimum, any dollars above the 2-year-vet minimum are paid by the NBA, and not charged to cap or tax or apron calculations. But that league subsidy is only applicable for a barebones one-year pact, with no incentives or options.

The difference is not a big number (in the world of NBA salaries). But sometimes every little bit matters.

MIL also gave that sort of deal to Delon Wright and Taurean Prince this summer.

GOTCHA! That's the piece I was missing, and now I could see how he might have been unable to secure that 1+1 sort of thing, at least from a good team. 

Thanks!

[Knutsen]

Crazy good deal for Milwaukee and he‘s familiar playing with Lillard. Let‘s hope he sets the market for the remaining good players and we are able to add the next DJJ - not from a player profile perspective, but from a contract value point of view.

[RGP1981]

Nice get by Milwaukee.  I was worried he would go to Denver and replace a good amount of what KCP does at the fraction of the cost.  He is not a game changer but would have been a nice competently piece in Denver.  So glad he stayed in the East.  I actually like him better in Milwaukee than the guy he is replacing.

I think Denver should try out Lonnie Walker. He's able, willing, and looking for a forever home.

[SleepingHero]

NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral)
Gary Trent Jr. reportedly turned down multiple offers from other teams, which were willing to offer him multi-year mid-level contracts, and decided to sign with Milwaukee for the minimum to reunite with Damian Lillard, per @BlakeMurphyODC

“In the end, he opted to reunite with Damian Lillard and contend for a championship on a one-year minimum ($2.6 million) rather than taking multi-year offers at the smaller mid-level ($5.2 million in Year 1) that were on the table, according to league sources.”

[Chicagojk]

I don't know if Mil has done enough, but they were really limited. Securing Trent, Delon Wright and Tashaun Price are nice moves and better than what they were replacing. A lot depends on how their older players play. Although, nice building around the edges. I don't know much about their draft picks but supposedly they are a long way from helping. Bucks have really not been very good with draft picks lately.

[Mavs2021]

NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral)
Dennis Smith Jr. reportedly turned down multiple offers from other teams, which were willing to offer him multi-year mid-level contracts, and decided to sign with Dallas for the minimum to reunite with Luka Doncic, per @BlakeMurphyODC

“In the end, he opted to reunite with Luka Doncic and contend for a championship on a one-year minimum ($2.6 million) rather than taking multi-year offers at the smaller mid-level ($5.2 million in Year 1) that were on the table, according to league sources.”

 Waiting for this news. 

[Chicagojk]

Has their been any comments from the player association or agents with some of these signings? One team used the MLE this summer and that was only for one guaranteed year. Every year guys get squeezed but they are typically a little older and maybe less accomplished than Trent. You also saw Brunson taking a smaller deal and their are reports Bridges will do the same. I wonder if this becomes a trend? If so, the players organization will not like if players face pressure to take less to keep team together as the owners keep seeing their valuation increase. Something to monitor over the next few years.

[LukaMVP]

one year self proving deal tbh. guy might have a poor season but his market value is still way higher than minimum. maybe next year he will resign with Milwaukee for a one year mid level deal and then after one more year he will hopefully get more with early bird rights. glad to see another team joining the race among NY, Boston, cavs, Pacers, Orlando. east just needs a few more good teams to be as tough as the West imho.

[SleepingHero]

 Waiting for this news. 

I was actually so confused for a second there and thought the Mavs had signed DSJ. I frantically was looking through twitter to confirm it only to realize you said "waiting for this news" 

Silly me.

That DSJ news got me excited!

[SleepingHero]

Has their been any comments from the player association or agents with some of these signings?    One team used the MLE this summer and that was only for one guaranteed year.  Every year guys get squeezed but they are typically a little older and maybe less accomplished than Trent.    You also saw Brunson taking a smaller deal and their are reports Bridges will do the same.  I wonder if this becomes a trend?  If so, the players organization will not like if players face pressure to take less to keep team together as the owners keep seeing their valuation increase.  Something to monitor over the next few years.

I think the players association shot themselves in the foot. The owners are happy because they can now point to the boogeyman 2nd apron as to why they aren't offering exorbitant contracts anymore.

I expect a lockout soon, maybe in 3-4 years. But who knows? Maybe the cap will spike just enough to the point where everyone can get more reasonable contracts.

[F Gump]

Has their been any comments from the player association or agents with some of these signings?    One team used the MLE this summer and that was only for one guaranteed year.  Every year guys get squeezed but they are typically a little older and maybe less accomplished than Trent.    You also saw Brunson taking a smaller deal and their are reports Bridges will do the same.  I wonder if this becomes a trend?  If so, the players organization will not like if players face pressure to take less to keep team together as the owners keep seeing their valuation increase.  Something to monitor over the next few years.

"Has their been any comments from the player association or agents with some of these signings?"

No. But why should there be? Because every player didn't get the max, from whichever team they wanted?

There is only so much money to be spent. Teams are not spending MLE's (on free agents) because they have spent elsewhere what they can spend.

And the bottom line in the NBA system is that the players as a whole get a certain amount. So if one player doesn't feel like he got his share, it's because that money went to a different player, not because of teams being miserly.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Nice get by Milwaukee.  I was worried he would go to Denver and replace a good amount of what KCP does at the fraction of the cost.  He is not a game changer but would have been a nice competently piece in Denver.  So glad he stayed in the East.  I actually like him better in Milwaukee than the guy he is replacing.

Malik Beasley?

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Has their been any comments from the player association or agents with some of these signings?    One team used the MLE this summer and that was only for one guaranteed year.  Every year guys get squeezed but they are typically a little older and maybe less accomplished than Trent.    You also saw Brunson taking a smaller deal and their are reports Bridges will do the same.  I wonder if this becomes a trend?  If so, the players organization will not like if players face pressure to take less to keep team together as the owners keep seeing their valuation increase.  Something to monitor over the next few years.

Good point. But I don't think there is anything the PA can do about it. They may not like it, but they can't dictate to a player how to work his contract.