The Bucks’ new deal for Gary Trent Jr. has already become one of the loudest talking points of NBA free agency.
Milwaukee agreed to a four-year, $64 million extension with Trent over the weekend, and the reaction around the league was immediate. Instead of being treated like a routine signing, the contract has drawn accusations from insiders who believe it crosses into cap circumvention territory.
“Gary Trent getting 4/$64 after the year he just had is obvious circumvention and should be punished by the league,” Nate Duncan wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “This would fall under the provision that there is no possible explanation other than circumvention.
“If judging it purely on its merits, is 4/$64m for Gary Trent Jr. the most absurd deal in NBA history relative to the market if judging at the moment the deal was signed?”
The skepticism comes after a rough season for Trent by his own standards. Sam Vecenie of The Athletic pointed directly to the numbers when he questioned the logic of the contract.
“The NBA should probably take a look at what is a truly nonsensical contract here given that Trent just averaged 8 PPG and shot 39% from the field in 22 minutes per game last season,” Vecenie wrote on X.
There was also an expectation that something like this might be coming. Trent signed a minimum-salary contract last summer after a strong season with the Bucks, and this year he slipped out of the rotation. That has only fueled the belief that the bigger payday may have been lined up well before the deal became official.
Now Milwaukee is counting on a different version of Trent moving forward. With the new contract in place, he’ll be expected to handle a larger role than he had last season. He has long shown he can make shots, and with a roster that is mostly new, the Bucks may be leaning on him more than ever.
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