The NBA’s investigation into the Milwaukee Bucks’ handling of Gary Trent Jr. has turned into one of the league’s most talked-about situations, and the fallout could be severe if the team is found guilty.
Trent signed a 4-year, $64 million deal with Milwaukee after previously playing on a minimum contract, and that jump has fueled talk around the league that the Bucks may have crossed the line on cap circumvention. The suspicion is that Trent accepted less money up front with an under-the-table understanding that a bigger payday would come later. Adding to the scrutiny, he has appeared in only three games this season.
On a recent edition of The Hoop Collective, Brian Windhorst, Tim McMahon, and Bobby Marks discussed how ugly this could get for the Bucks. Windhorst said general manager John Horst could be in line for a suspension.
Brian Windhorst and Bobby Marks on the NBA's investigation of Gary Trent Jr.'s $64 million free agent deal with the Bucks 👀
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) November 11, 2026
"I'll just put it this way. Everybody in the league expects a guilty finding in Gary Trent. If that doesn't happen, it will be an upset."
"If [the Bucks]…
“I don’t want anybody to lose their job, but John Horst is facing a disaster situation with this team where he might be getting suspended. That’s what I’m saying.”
Windhorst also said the expectation around the league is that the NBA will come down with a guilty finding.
“Everybody in the league expects a guilty finding in Gary Trent. If that doesn’t happen, it will be an upset, okay? So it could be potentially the worst general manager opening in decades.”
Marks brought up past league cases as a guide for what punishment might follow if the Bucks are ruled against.
“If we’re going on past precedent, and we can go back to Minnesota with Joe Smith, and we can go back to the Clippers stuff from this summer, if they are found guilty, there are going to be draft picks stripped, and people are going to be suspended indefinitely for a long time here.”
McMahon was even more blunt about the possible damage to Milwaukee.
“You call this the danger zone. I call this hell.
What happens if hell freezes over? It’s a Milwaukee NBA season for the next five or six years.
That’s what happens.”
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