Gary Trent Jr.: 'Everybody' Expects the Bucks to Be Found Guilty in the NBA's Cap Investigation, Windhorst Says
ESPN's Brian Windhorst says the league expects a guilty finding over Gary Trent Jr.'s four-year, $64 million Bucks contract. The investigation is still open — and the predicted penalties are severe.
The NBA's investigation into Gary Trent Jr.'s contract with Milwaukee took a sharper turn on Wednesday. 'Everybody in the league expects a guilty finding' regarding the Bucks' dealings with Trent, ESPN's Brian Windhorst said on The Hoop Collective podcast, as Hoops Rumors reported.
The contract at the center of it is a four-year, $64 million deal Trent signed in July, after a season in which he averaged 8.1 points, 1.2 assists and 1.0 rebounds per game on 38.7 percent shooting, Hoops Rumors reported. The NBA is investigating whether the deal was a form of salary-cap circumvention. Trent originally signed with Milwaukee for the veteran's minimum in 2024, then accepted a small raise to $3.7 million via Non-Bird rights in 2025 after a strong first season — a sequence that fueled speculation he had agreed to those team-friendly deals on a promise the Bucks would reward him later, once they could offer more through his Early Bird rights.
The discussion, as reported, was about what comes next for a Bucks team that has started 1-10. ESPN's Tim MacMahon believes virtually everyone on the roster could be made available ahead of the February 11 trade deadline, Hoops Rumors reported, but it is uncertain who would be running the front office if general manager Jon Horst is suspended or fired over the Trent negotiations. Windhorst added that, given Milwaukee's roster and lack of draft assets, the job could be 'the worst general manager opening in decades' if Horst has to be replaced.
ESPN's Bobby Marks, citing the precedents set this summer by the Clippers investigation and by Joe Smith and the Timberwolves in 2000, predicted suspensions 'for a long time' and stripped draft picks if the league determines the Bucks made illegal promises to Trent, Hoops Rumors reported. Those are predictions from insiders, not a league ruling: the investigation remains open, and no finding has been announced in the coverage the desk read.
