After months of anticipation, the NBA has concluded its investigation into Kawhi Leonard and the LA Clippers regarding cap circumvention. The verdict? Harsh, but particularly on the organization. Now, with that investigation settled, the league will likely focus on Gary Trent Jr. and the Milwaukee Bucks as part of another rumored investigation. Gulp.
Bucks and Trent under investigation by NBA
Shortly after Gary Trent Jr. inked his four-year, $64 million extension after arguably the worst year of his career, ESPN's Shams Charania reported that the NBA was "probing" the move. From the moment it got announced that the Bucks handed him that lucrative raise, it felt inevitable that the league would at least poke around here. They are, and the Leonard punishment shows they aren't messing around.
The NBA, clearly wanting to make a statement, stripped the franchise of five first-round picks, issued a $30 million fine to owner Steve Ballmer, dished out suspensions to Ballmer, Lawrence Frank, and Gillian Zucker, and fined Leonard $700K. That's a franchise-crippling verdict. Anyone would hate to be the team that gets investigated next, given that the league is dropping the hammer on wrongdoing...
Trent, Leonard situations are different
To be crystal clear, these situations aren't one-for-one. The investigation into Leonard alleged that he and his camp urged the Clippers to secure him off-court deals to circumvent the cap, while the Bucks are under fire for what looks like a handshake deal, in which they paid Trent a small salary last season but guaranteed that they would hand him a richer deal this summer, no matter what.
While there was a trail of receipts, notably spearheaded by journalist Pablo Torre, in Leonard's case, the same cannot be said about the Bucks and Trent. That's largely because there were no non-Bucks parties involved here. Trent seemingly wasn't asking the Bucks to scrounge up cash from external sources to keep him around; they used the salary cap (legally) to keep him around.
If the Milwaukee Bucks are found of some wrongdoing, the punishment almost certainly won't be as bad as what the Clippers got. Perhaps a fine, but even then, it would take substantial evidence that will likely be hard to uncover for the NBA to issue that. For now, all Bucks fans can do is wait for the NBA to make its decision, keeping their fingers crossed that the conclusion isn't as harsh.
Stay tuned for more Milwaukee Bucks analysis.
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