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Portland Trail Blazers fans have long been impressed by the performances put on by Gary Trent Jr., and other people are starting to notice. According to Jasmyn Wimbish of CBS Sports, Trent Jr. ranks highly as one of the “biggest surprises” from the 2018 draft class. Wimbish notes that Trent Jr. fell to the second round despite being a Duke product, and after riding the pine during his first year, he has stepped up in big ways for the Trail Blazers.
His breakout performance in the bubble has so far translated to his third season in the league with the Blazers in an even bigger way. He’s averaging a career-high 14 points and two rebounds, while shooting a career-best 43.6 percent from 3-point territory. His defensive metrics have regressed slightly from his second season, but he’s still a tough draw on that end of the floor.
If you watched Trent in college you may not be surprised by what he’s doing, but no one could’ve expected him to be this important to Portland so early on, and the crazy part is he’s only 22 years old. The Blazers should be ecstatic about Trent’s progression.
You can read through all of Wimbish’s surprises from 2018 here.