Portland Trail Blazers in the NBA Bubble: Gary Trent Jr. is breaking out

Portland Trail Blazers wing Gary Trent Jr. is breaking out in the NBA Bubble. The second-year guard hit 7 three-pointers in the loss to the Boston Celtics.

Second-year Portland Trail Blazers wing Gary Trent Jr. had a strong second half to the season before the NBA’s hiatus in March. After showing what he could do then, he has come out firing in Orlando. He is now a crucial part of the rotation in the first two games in the NBA Bubble.

The NBA is all about opportunity. Players like Devonte’ Graham on the Charlotte Hornets, Duncan Robinson on the Miami Heat, and now Trent Jr. on the Blazers, all played small roles in their first seasons. But after injury, trades, or rebuilds, all three have broken out this year to varying degrees.

Trent may not have played at all this year if it wasn’t for injuries to Zach Collins and then Rodney Hood. He was behind Anfernee Simons in the rotation, and it wasn’t until both Trent and Simons had to play when Hood went down, that the franchise and the fans saw that he could play.

It wasn’t that Trent was bad when he played last season, but he has worked hard on his game and body, and he was then able to contribute on both ends.

Trent was carrying out his role perfectly. He was knocking down the open three, while also taking care of the ball. Around the time that Kent Bazemore was traded, there was a game or two where because of trade rules, the three players that came over in the Bazemore trade couldn’t play.

Trent, all of a sudden, was guarding the other team’s best wing threat. It may have been the point of attack in James Harden, or Victor Oladipo, Trent didn’t care. He just went about his work.

He didn’t lock everyone down, but he showed on multiple occasions that he could match up well with guys like Oladipo. When you contrast his physical tools with the other guard options the Blazers have, he has far and away the best size and strength. Trent might not be All-NBA defense yet, but at six-foot-five with a six-foot-nine wingspan, he has by far the best tools of any one, two or three in the squad.

Trent is 210 pounds, not huge, but he has lean muscle, and he is tough.

Offensively, both his three-point shooting volume and efficiency have increased as the season has worn on. Before the All-Star break, he was attempting four three-pointers a game and hitting on 40.4 percent of them. Now in the 12 games since the All-Star break, he has attempted five threes a game and hit on 42.6 percent of them.

Impressively for a second-year guard, he is in the 99th percentile when it comes to turnovers. This means he has the second-lowest turnover rate in the entire league.

Fast-forwarding to the two games in the season return, he is now averaging 19 points a game on 60 percent from the field and 68 percent from three. He is also a plus 28 on the box score across these two games.

It looks like Trent is playing heavy minutes now as the premier sixth man. He is averaging 30 minutes a night, and at twenty-one-years-old is only going to get more minutes as he develops.

This stretch run of games will test the mettle of even the best players, so if Trent wants to stake a claim for a longer-term deal after next year, now is the time.

At last, the Blazers have a guard who can defend at a plus level.