Shams Charania Details Gary Trent Jr.’s $64 Mn Contract With the Bucks That Shook the NBA World

Milwaukee Bucks' shooting guard Gary Trent Jr. must have been as surprised as any of us when the Bucks recently offered him a four-year $64 million deal. This deal is a massive leap from his previous two-year contract with the Bucks, worth $7.5 million. But NBA insider Shams Charania believes he knows why the deal was offered.

The deal blindsided the league. Nobody had anticipated it, especially after Trent's poor 2025 season. Charania broke down the possibility behind Milwaukee's offer with 2016 NBA champion Iman Shumpert and his brother, Ahrii, on the Shump Street pod.

"A few factors with the G-Trent deal ... in the 2025 playoffs, I believe he averaged close to 15/16/17/18/19 points a game, shot 50% from three in the playoffs against the Pacers, and he took a minimum the next year. There was a school of thought that he had potentially better offers there that summer (after the 2025 playoffs). Certainly, there's a lot of people raising their eyebrows around the league at this deal."

Trent's post-season performance in the 2024 season seemingly increased his market value as a free agent, leading to an unnamed team reportedly expressing interest in the guard. This could be part of the reason the Bucks have decided to retain Trent despite a poor 2025 season.

Trent's 2025 performance was well below expectations. He averaged 8.1 points, 1.2 assists, and 1.0 rebounds, while shooting 38.7% from the field over 65 regular-season games. It's the worst season he's had since his rookie season, when he averaged 2.7 ppg over 15 games for the Portland Trail Blazers.

The Bucks managed to offer Trent the four-year deal because they retained his Bird rights after his initial two-year minimum contract. The Bird rights allowed Milwaukee to exceed the salary cap to re-sign him.

Other NBA insiders express doubts on Gary Trent Jr.'s deal

The Bucks' offer to Trent Jr. has definitely ruffled some feathers in the league. Fans and analysts alike were quick to react, with the majority questioning why the Bucks would pay a player who practically did nothing in the 2025 season.

Marc Stein noted how fans aren't happy with the deal and want answers from the Bucks.

"Then, from nowhere, Gary Trent, who was being pursued by no other teams... gets a deal at $16 million annual average value," Stein noted. "The loudest noise to this point is from the public. The basketball public wants to know. The basketball public wants an explanation here, and what is going to happen, and is the league going to look at this?"

The suspicion is well backed, as Trent's 2025 season is just impossible to overlook, despite what Charania has said.

Following Stein's train of thought, Tim MacMahon shared a similar sentiment regarding the league making an investigation into Trent's new contract. MacMahon wants NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to look into the details of the Bucks deal.

"If I was Adam Silver, and I’m some of those head honchos in the league office, I’d sniff around," MacMahon said.

While league insiders debate the validity and reasons behind Trent's contract, he now looks forward to a base salary of $14.28 million in 2026.