The NBA has opened another investigation into possible salary-cap circumvention, this time involving the Milwaukee Bucks and Gary Trent Jr.
The league hired law firm Hecker Fink to examine the four-year, $64 million contract Trent signed with Milwaukee this offseason.
The investigation reportedly centers on whether the Bucks and Trent had a long-term arrangement to build his Bird rights before eventually signing a larger deal.
Trent previously signed two-year contracts with player options and opted out after each first season. That process eventually gave Milwaukee Early Bird rights, which were used for his new $64 million contract.
The deal has drawn additional attention because Trent had earned the veteran minimum or slightly above it during the previous two seasons and was coming off his weakest statistical campaign in years.
The agreement also came weeks after Milwaukee traded Giannis Antetokounmpo to the Miami Heat and began rebuilding its roster.
Unlike the Clippers-Kawhi Leonard case involving outside compensation, the Trent situation is considered more comparable to the Minnesota Timberwolves’ Joe Smith case, which involved an alleged prearranged future contract.
