Now that Kawhi Leonard's dramatic saga with the Los Angeles Clippers has come to an end, the NBA is reportedly looking into a separate, potential salary cap circumvention situation involving Gary Trent Jr. and the Milwaukee Bucks. Trent, a 27-year-old veteran guard who's bounced around the league and shot career lows last season, signed a four-year, $64 million extension with the Bucks in July. That's $16 million per year for a player who did little to help the team win games and will be 31 years old by the time his new deal expires.
According to Joe Vardon of The Athletic, the Bucks could be penalized just as much, if not more, than the Clippers were in their situation with Leonard. "Trent, 27, had signed two prior contracts for much less money with Milwaukee amid the previous two summers of 2024 and 2025 (including for the league minimum in 2024). There were player options attached to both deals, and he declined them both, setting up larger paydays.
The first was a modest increase, with his 2025-26 salary jumping from $2.6 million to $3.7 million. Then, in the run-up to his new contract, which will pay him more than $15 million annually, he muddled through his worst statistical campaign since his rookie campaign from eight years ago," Vardon wrote. "If league investigators find proof that the Bucks and Trent are guilty of what the Clippers and Leonard were guilty of, the punishment could be equally severe, if not worse." More news: Raptors Ink Kawhi Leonard to Monster $115 Million Deal After Clippers Trade More news: Kevin Durant Makes Feelings Clear on Potential Rockets Minutes Restriction Leonard signed a $28 million endorsement deal with Aspiration, a supposedly "green" company that turned out to be a fraud.
The deal was widely described as a "no-show job," meaning he collected his paycheck without doing any of the promotional work for the company. Investigators ultimately found Aspiration itself had been financially backed by Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, raising suspicions the arrangement was really a way to pay Leonard outside his official NBA salary. After a year-long investigation into the matter, the NBA found that the Clippers had engaged in "a pattern of misconduct and multiple significant rules violations." As a result, the team had to forfeit five first-round draft picks, was fined $30 million, and Ballmer was suspended for one year.
Leonard himself was fined $700,000. Trent's situation is obviously different. At the moment, there have been no reports of any outside endorsement deal.
But the fact that he was making under $4 million in each of his two previous contracts, only to see his value quadruple after posting one of the worst seasons of his career, is certainly worth investigating. Last season with the Bucks, Trent averaged 8.1 points, his lowest mark since his 2018-19 rookie season, and shot just 38.7% from the field while playing just 21.2 minutes per game. Milwaukee won just 32 games and missed the postseason for the first time since 2016.
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