Gary Trent Staking A Claim With Portland

Gary Trent had a solid career at Duke but with so many talented teammates he at times was overlooked. Not by Duke fans but in the broader basketball world? It tended to happen.

Well not so much anymore.

Although Duke teammates Marvin Bagley, Wendell Carter and Grayson Allen all went in the first round, Trent was available in the second round and was taken by Sacramento then traded to the Portland Trailblazers, where his father had an outstanding career.

He didn't play as much his rookie season, scoring just 40 points but this season, through 69 games, he has scored 541.

That’s a heck of an improvement.

And he’s become a much better defender too. So what can you put it down to?

Trent says it’s easy: great teammates he has to deal with every day.

“Guarding [Damian Lillard] and CJ McCollum every single day for the last year and a half has made me a better defender,” Trent Jr. said on Rasheed Wallace’s podcast.

How could it not?

We’re sure they’ve also taught him an enormous amount about being a professional, although his dad surely gave him a leg up as well.

We’re excited to see how things go for him from this point on. It’s been a great year for him to date.