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The Milwaukee Bucks were already set to endure some rough years after finally trading Giannis Antetokounmpo to the Miami Heat over the summer. A new NBA investigation into potential cap circumvention to re-sign a role player from the late stages of the Antetokounmpo era threatens to make Milwaukee’s rebuild even more difficult.
The NBA quietly announced it was investigating the Bucks for cap circumvention over the summer tied to re-signing Gary Trent Jr. to a four-year, $64 million deal. The contract immediately raised eyebrows for multiple reasons: Trent was coming off arguably the worst season of his NBA career, cap space around the league had already dried up by the time the deal was announced on July 11, and no one in their right mind would have thought he was a $16 million per year player in this market.
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After the initial shock of the deal wore off, it was easy to connect the dots on what (probably) happened. A new story by The Athletic on Wednesday provides new information on the Bucks’ investigation in the wake of commissioner Adam Silver dropping the hammer on the Los Angeles Clippers earlier this month for circumventing the salary cap to sign Kawhi Leonard. The Clippers were stripped of five future first-round picks, and The Athletic says the Bucks’ punishment “could be equally severe, if not worse.”
The Bucks signed Trent to a minimum contract in the summer of 2024 when he was coming off a strong year with the Toronto Raptors where he averaged 13.7 points per game while knocking down 39.3 percent of his three-pointers on 6.4 attempts per game from deep. It felt like a very team-friendly signing at the time for a player who had just started 41 games, but it was also a nice opportunity for Trent to boost his standing league-wide playing for a Bucks team that was supposed to be very good with Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard.
Trent was just okay for the Bucks in his first season with the team, and then got a modest pay increase up to $3.7 million for last season with Milwaukee still capped out. He had an even worse season last year, averaging 8.1 points with 36 percent shooting from three….
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/nba-next-cap-circumvention-investigation-160706956.html
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Publish date : 2026-09-23 16:07:00
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