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In the 2018 NBA Draft, Duke saw Marvin Bagley go at #2 to Sacramento, Wendell Carter go at #7 to Chicago and Grayson Allen go at #21 to Utah.
Gary Trent wasn’t taken until the 37th pick, the seventh in the second round, by Sacramento then immediately traded to Portland, his father’s old team.
He built a solid role there and then was traded to the Toronto Raptors, where, to use a recruiting phrase, he really blew up and now has an enviable NBA career.
That has been acknowledged in the most meaningful way by Toronto as the Raptors have agreed to give him a 3-year, $54 million dollar deal.
That’s pretty spectacular for a second round pick. Not too many rise to that level.
It reminds us of what his dad said when he left college. He said, basically, that he had been a secondary option at Duke behind Bagley and Carter, and that when he hit the NBA, people would see what he could do.
At the time, we wondered if it wasn’t a bit of paternal pride. In retrospect, Gary Sr., who had a long and successful career with Portland, knew what he was talking about.