The NBA is “probing” the Bucks signing of Gray Trent Jr., according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.
Trent signed a four-year, $64-million deal with Milwaukee on Saturday, raising eyebrows across the league.
Last season, the guard averaged his fewest minutes per game since his rookie season, putting up an inefficient 8.1 points and shot just 38.7% from the floor.
Trent even fell out of the Bucks rotation entirely at times.
Despite that, the Bucks rewarded the shooting guard with a gargantuan raise and guaranteed salary for four years.
While some called it an offseason blunder, others claim it’s circumstantial evidence that the Bucks circumvented the salary cap to get the most out of the final years of Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Coming off a $51.8 million contract with the Raptors in 2024, Trent signed for a league-minimum $2.6 million with the Bucks.
This was the only contract the Bucks could afford as they paid heavy prices on Antetokounmpo and Damien Lillard and were deep into the luxury tax apron.
Trent’s numbers dropped in Milwaukee, no longer starting as he did at times with the Raptors, but the Bucks re-signed him last offseason with the 20% Non-Bird raise.
The extreme drop-off followed by a jump in salary that doesn’t match on-court performance, could potentially hint at a handshake deal made that promised a certain salary in the future for a short-term pay cut.
Such deals are banned in Article XIII, Section 2 of the NBA collective bargaining agreement.
“At no time shall there be any agreements or transactions of any kind (whether disclosed or undisclosed to the NBA), express or implied, oral or written, or promises, undertakings, representations, commitments, inducements, assurances of intent, or understandings of any kind (whether disclosed or undisclosed to the NBA), between a player … and any Team … concerning any future Renegotiation, Extension, or other amendment of an existing Player Contract, or entry into a new Player Contract.”
The probing comes after just about everyone in the NBA world questioned the signing.
NBA salary cap expert Nate Duncan said on X that the contract “would fall under the provision that there is no possible explanation other than circumvention.”
ESPN’s Tim MacMahon chimed in saying the contract stunk.
“It smells awful,” he said on “Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
