Road to Duke
Gary Dajuan Trent Jr. was born in Columbus, Ohio, on January 18, 1999, into a basketball family that had already lived the entire arc of the American hoops dream. His father, Gary Trent Sr., grew up in grinding poverty in Columbus — his mother dropping him off for his first job at 3:17 a.m. by the clock on her Cadillac. The elder Trent fought his way to Ohio University, where he earned the nickname “The Shaq of the MAC,” was named conference Player of the Year three times, and was drafted 11th overall by the Milwaukee Bucks in 1995. He played nine NBA seasons, averaging 8.6 points and 4.5 rebounds, with stops in Milwaukee, Dallas, Indiana, Toronto, and Minnesota. His mother Roxanne Holt and his stepmother Natalia both shaped his upbringing. His aunt, Tia Trent, was a two-time All-American sprinter at Indiana.
Gary Jr. grew up in NBA locker rooms. He was around Kevin Garnett as a child. His father began training him at age five, asking the boy if he was serious about basketball. When Gary said yes, the regimen started. At age six, he dribbled a basketball for a mile around a track while doing push-ups and sit-ups at each corner. At seven, he was scoring 30 points per game in youth league. By the time he reached high school, he was waking his father at 1 a.m. to go shoot in the gym — after already completing two or three workouts that day. The Trents’ social media was full of posts from 3 a.m. gym sessions.
At Apple Valley High School in Minnesota, Trent Jr. paired with Tre Jones — the younger brother of Tyus Jones, who had just led Duke to the 2015 national championship. Together, Trent and Tre Jones led Apple Valley to the Minnesota Class 4A state championship in 2015. By his junior year, Trent was averaging 26.4 points and 5.8 rebounds and was named Minnesota Player of the Year.
He transferred to Prolific Prep in Napa, California, for his senior year, where he averaged 31.8 points and 6.4 rebounds while shooting 39.3% from three. He was ranked #8 nationally by ESPN and the #1 shooting guard in the 2017 class. He committed to Duke on November 10, 2016, choosing the Blue Devils over Kentucky, UCLA, and Michigan State. His father called it “the greatest decision of his life so far.”
At Duke
Trent arrived at Duke for the 2017-18 season as part of a loaded freshman class that included Marvin Bagley III, Wendell Carter Jr., and Trevon Duval. The team was ranked #1 in the preseason and started four freshmen. In that lineup, Trent was the marksman — the player whose gravity from three-point range opened up driving lanes for everyone else.
He set a Duke freshman record with 97 made three-pointers, shooting 40.2% from beyond the arc — the best percentage in the ACC that season. He also led the team from the free-throw line at 87.6%, a rare combination of efficiency for an 18-year-old. His 14.5 points per game ranked third on the team behind Bagley and Grayson Allen, and he was one of three Blue Devils to start all 37 games.
The highlights were vivid. On December 9, 2017, he scored 25 points against Boston College, tying the Duke freshman record with six three-pointers. On January 15, 2018, he scored a career-high 30 points in a comeback victory over Miami, hitting shot after shot in the second half. On January 29, he posted 22 points and 10 rebounds against Notre Dame — showing he was more than just a shooter.
Duke entered the NCAA Tournament as the #2 seed in the Midwest. Trent was named to the All-Region team as the Blue Devils beat Iona, Rhode Island, and Syracuse to reach the Elite Eight. But Kansas, led by Devont’e Graham and Svi Mykhailiuk, ended Duke’s season in overtime. Afterward, all five Duke starters declared for the NBA Draft.
Krzyzewski had said during recruitment: “He’s strong and can score the ball. But he can also defend. That’s the thing that impressed me — his willingness to cover the best perimeter player on another team while still putting up points.” The Prolific Prep founder called him “the epitome of what you want an all-around leader to be.”
After Duke
The Sacramento Kings selected Trent 37th overall in the 2018 NBA Draft and immediately traded him to the Portland Trail Blazers. Being a second-round pick meant no guaranteed contract and no safety net. His father’s words echoed: “This 15-year internship just got you into the country club. Now you’ve got to work 100 times harder to stay.”
Trent took the advice literally. After a quiet rookie season (15 games, 2.7 ppg), he broke out in year two, shooting 41.8% from three — emerging as one of the best young perimeter shooters in the league. By his third year in Portland, he was averaging 15.0 points and establishing himself as a legitimate NBA rotation player.
In March 2021, Toronto acquired Trent in a trade for Norman Powell. The move was a gamble for the Raptors — and it paid off spectacularly. In his first full season in Toronto, Trent went on a historic scoring run: five consecutive 30-point games (joining DeMar DeRozan as the only Raptor to achieve that), a season-high 42 points against Houston, and nine three-pointers against Phoenix. He scored 44 points on 17-of-19 shooting against Cleveland — one of the most efficient scoring performances in NBA history. The Raptors signed him to a three-year, $54 million deal.
After three seasons in Toronto, Trent signed with the Milwaukee Bucks in July 2024. In the 2025 NBA Playoffs, he erupted for 37 points in Game 3 of the first round, hitting nine three-pointers to tie a Bucks playoff record. Milwaukee re-signed him to a two-year deal in July 2025. He continues to be one of the league’s most dangerous perimeter scorers.
Where Is He Now
Gary Trent Jr. is 27 years old and in his eighth NBA season, playing for the Milwaukee Bucks alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard. He has earned over $70 million in career salary. He has played in 400+ NBA games and established himself as one of the premier three-point shooters of his generation.
His story is the basketball version of a family business. A father who grew up with nothing, made the NBA, and then poured every ounce of what he learned into his son. A kid who was dribbling for miles at age six and shooting at 3 a.m. as a teenager. A second-round pick who outworked his draft position and turned himself into a $54 million player.
The Duke connection runs deep: Trent played high school ball with Tre Jones, who followed him to Durham a year later. They won a state championship together in Minnesota and both became NBA players. His father’s advice before the Duke commitment endures as one of the great pieces of basketball wisdom a parent has ever given a child: “First, go to a basketball school. Secondly, don’t make it a basketball decision. This is a business decision.”
Gary Trent Sr. once said: “You cannot find a child in this draft who has logged more gym hours, more film hours, and more basketball conversation hours.” Seven years into his NBA career, the investment is still paying dividends.