The Milwaukee Bucks are off to a 1-4 start, and the early mess around the franchise is only getting louder. With Giannis Antetokounmpo gone, the season already looks rough enough on its own. Now the Gary Trent Jr. situation has turned it into something much uglier.
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported that an NBA executive believes Milwaukee’s handling of Trent Jr. could be even worse than what the LA Clippers did with Kawhi Leonard when it comes to salary cap circumvention. That is a heavy accusation, especially with the league already having punished the Clippers by taking away five first-round picks and fining owner $30 million.
For a Bucks team that has already traded away the best player in franchise history as it begins a rebuild, that kind of penalty would be a brutal blow.
The Trent Jr. contract is the center of the storm. Milwaukee re-signed him to a 4-year, $64 million deal, and if the league decides the Bucks used a handshake understanding to get there, the fallout could be severe. The suspicion is that the team signed him to minimum contracts in back-to-back seasons with the expectation that a bigger payday would come later.
That theory gets more attention because of what Trent Jr. has actually produced. He averaged 8.1 points per game last season, and this season he has played only three minutes. On the surface, the deal looks far too rich for his current output, which is why the idea that he is being paid for past seasons has gained traction.
It also raises a simple question: if there was no cap circumvention, why would Milwaukee commit around $16 million annually to a player coming off an 8.1-point season? That’s the kind of move that leaves the Bucks looking bad either way, even if the league never proves a violation.
From that angle, Giannis Antetokounmpo may have read the room perfectly. The Bucks and the Miami Heat are not exactly rolling right now, but the best version of Miami is still better than the best version of Milwaukee this season. If the Trent Jr. investigation ends badly for the Bucks, it only sharpens the case that Giannis got out at the right time.
And if Milwaukee is cleared, the franchise still has to live with the optics of the deal. Either way, the Bucks are left trying to sort out a future that looks a long way off from settled.
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Tyler Herros scoring has given him a clear market appeal if the Bucks decide to reshuffle, while Kyle Kuzma and Bobby Portis bring different kinds of trade value depending on what another team is looking for. Isaiah Stewart, meanwhile, is viewed as a tougher contract to move, which only adds to the complexity of Milwaukees choices as the front office weighs performance, salary and long-term direction. [Read more 🡒]