NBA probes Bucks’ $64 million Gary Trent Jr. deal
ESPN reports the league is examining Milwaukee’s new four-year deal with Gary Trent Jr. for possible salary cap circumvention.
By Deshawn Carter · Sports Writer
3 min read
The NBA is examining Gary Trent Jr.’s new four-year, $64 million contract with the Milwaukee Bucks for possible salary cap circumvention, a league spokesperson told ESPN’s Shams Charania.
Milwaukee formally announced the agreement and filed it with the league on Thursday morning, according to ESPN. The deal gives Trent, 27, a major raise after a season in which his production dipped to some of the lowest marks of his career.
Trent averaged 8.1 points while shooting 38.7% during the 2025-26 season, ESPN reported. Those were his lowest averages since his rookie season with Portland in 2018-19, when he appeared in 15 games.
The league’s review centers on language in the collective bargaining agreement barring a “prior agreement,” ESPN reported. In plain basketball English, the NBA is looking at whether the sides had an improper understanding about a richer future contract before Trent’s Bird rights were in place.
Trent first joined the Bucks on a league-minimum deal in the summer of 2024. He had a stronger first season in Milwaukee, averaging 11.1 points on 43% shooting and adding what ESPN described as a strong playoff showing.
Before last season, he signed a two-year, $7.5 million contract with the Bucks that paid him $3.7 million for 2025-26, according to ESPN. That contract also helped Milwaukee establish Trent’s Bird rights, which allow a team to re-sign its own player even while over the salary cap.
Trent declined his player option this summer and entered free agency. Under the new contract, he is due to make $15.2 million this coming season, ESPN reported.
Rival executives had expected for months that Trent would stay in Milwaukee, sources told ESPN. Those sources said the expectation followed Trent playing for the Bucks below what was viewed around the league as his market value last season.
After Milwaukee gained his Bird rights, Trent’s new contract came in higher in both salary and length than his perceived value around the NBA, sources told ESPN. Charania also reported that at least one team had interest in pursuing a sign-and-trade for Trent.
The deal also lands in a packed Bucks backcourt. ESPN listed Ryan Rollins, Kevin Porter Jr. and AJ Green as players already on Milwaukee’s roster entering the summer. The Bucks also traded for Tyler Herro, Kasparas Jakucionis and Caris LeVert, and selected Brayden Burries with the No. 10 pick in the draft.
ESPN did not report any comment from Trent or the Bucks on the investigation.
The league has punished cap-circumvention cases before. ESPN noted that the NBA penalized the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2000 and voided a contract after finding the team had a written, illegal secret agreement with Joe Smith. That agreement promised Smith a multi-year, multi-million-dollar extension beginning in 2001-02 after he played three seasons on minimum contracts with Minnesota, according to ESPN.
This story draws on original reporting from ESPN.com.