Gary Trent Jr. explodes for career-high 30 points on 21st birthday

The former Duke basketball sharpshooter and current Portland Trail Blazer guard, Gary Trent Jr., exploded for a career night on his 21st birthday.

Gary Trent Jr. has been a forgotten name for the Portland Trail Blazers but on Saturday night the former Blue Devil celebrated his 21st birthday.

While you can assume Trent Jr. would have liked a victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder for his milestone birthday, the second-year player will take the next best present, a career-high 30 points.

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The former Blue Devil came off the bench and was tied for a team-high 36 minutes along with Damian Lillard and only trailed the Trail Blazer star in points.

Lillard’s 34 points paced the Blazers in yet another defeat, but perhaps Gary Trent Jr. can be the player Portland so desperately needs.

Trent Jr. made 12-of-18 from the floor and 5-of-9 from 3-point range while splitting a pair at the free throw line and along with his 30 points the sharpshooter recorded five rebounds, one assist, three steals, and a block while being a team-best +/- rating, +7.

However, the Thunder were able to beat the Blazers on Saturday night, 119-106.

Gary Trent Jr. has already seen much more action than he did in his rookie season and in the 31 games he has played in this season, he started two and is averaging 5.0 points and 1.4 rebounds per game while shooting 40.0 percent from the field and 39.1 percent from 3-point range.

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The Portland Trail Blazers are having a very disappointing season with just an 18-26 record, one year removed from playing in the Western Conference Finals. Portland is currently No. 11 in the West, three games behind the Memphis Grizzlies who are the No. 8 seed.

Portland will try and get back on track against its Western Conference Finals foe from last season, the Golden State Warriors, who have the worst record in the NBA. Tipoff is scheduled for 10:00pm EST and the game will be televised on TNT.

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