The Bucks Are Paying So Much For Gary Trent Jr. That The NBA Is Worried
Defector
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The Milwaukee Bucks are going to have a hilarious roster next season.
Tyler Herro!
Myles Turner!
Kevin Porter Jr.!
Caris LeVert!
Kyle fuckin' Kuzma!
To assemble this Jaywalkers' Row of contributors, while also affording all of the non-corporeal essence of Damian Lillard that can be purchased with $22 million, takes some serious finagling.
So much finagling, apparently, that it draws the concerned attention of the league's front office: According to https://bsky.app/profile/shamsbot.bsky.social/post/3mqrn5lkjpn2y">a report from ESPN's Shams Charania, the Bucks are currently being investigated by the NBA for bizarre spending behavior.
At issue is the deal made between the Bucks and free-agent guard Gary Trent Jr., who over the weekend agreed to a new four-year contract worth $64 million.
Just in math terms, there is nothing extreme about the deal.
The veteran minimum for a player who, like Trent, has played eight seasons in the NBA, is about $6.7 million.
The maximum, for which Trent is not eligible, is more than $57 million.
The non-taxpayer mid-level exception for the upcoming season—a carve-out for teams over the salary cap but under the luxury tax threshold, like the Bucks—is right about $16 million; Trent's new contract escalates season by season, and for the upcoming season will pay him a little over $14 million, https://www.spotrac.com/nba/milwaukee-bucks/yearly">per Spotrac.
In NBA terms, a $16 million annual salary is not an eye-popping commitment.
But in Gary Trent Jr. terms, a $16 million annual salary is, uhh, quite a lot.
Meaning no more than the usual disrespect, Trent is just a guy, a streaky if hyper-willing shooter who does precisely nothing else of consequence on an NBA floor.
He has played two seasons with the Bucks, and over that span was broadly awful.
Last season he averaged 8.1 points per game, mostly as a reserve, and the Bucks were hopelessly overmatched during his minutes, worse https://www.nba.com/stats/team/1610612749/onoffcourt-advanced?SeasonType=Regular+Season">by net rating by more than nine points per 100 possessions.
The Bucks were hoping that Trent could keep them spaced and firing around Giannis Antetokounmpo, but Antetokounmpo's injuries plus the team's rapidly souring vibes ruined each of Milwaukee's last two campaigns, and now https://defector.com/giannis-antetokounmpo-is-a-heat">Giannis is in Miami and the team is a shambles.