'I call this hell': ESPN analyst expects severe punishment for Bucks

Credit: ESPNNBA commissioner Adam Silver handed down a historically severe punishment to the Los Angeles Clippers and franchise owner Steve Ballmer weeks before the season for salary cap circumvention in their 2019 acquisition of Kawhi Leonard. Just months after making an example of the Clippers, Silver may be on the brink of levying another severe punishment on another franchise for the same offense.The Milwaukee Bucks announced an eyebrow-raising four-year, $64 million extension for guard Gary Trent Jr. in July, and the league announced an investigation into the contract shortly after.Trent’s new deal means an annual average value jump from $4 million to $16 million for Trent, despite him coming off one of the most inefficient seasons of his career, averaging 8.1 points per game on 38.7% shooting, leading to speculation that Trent and the Bucks made a handshake agreement for him to accept smaller, cheaper contracts for the promise of a more lucrative one down the road, a violation of the league’s salary cap rules.A league spokesperson told The Athletic in September that its investigation into the matter was ongoing, and on Wednesday ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported that the Bucks and the rest of the NBA are bracing for a “guilty finding.”“I don’t want anybody to lose their job, but [Bucks general manager Jon Horst] is facing a disastrous situation with this team,” Windhorst said on ESPN’s Brian Windhorst and the Hoop Collective of the 1-10 Bucks.“And by the way,” Windhorst continued, “if Jon Horst loses his job and this job becomes open, and you are facing this hand… I mean, let’s put it this way: Everybody in the league expects a guilty finding on Gary Trent. If that’s not happened, if that doesn’t happen, it will be an upset.”Windhorst went on to ask analyst Bobby Marks if Horst being fired would leave “the worst general manager opening in decades,” and Marks painted a bleak picture.“I mean, your, your, your building blocks are Nate Ament and Braden Burries. And, you know, you’ve got Tyler Herro on an expiring contract, and you’re stuck with Myles Turner for the next couple of years. And as you said, you have no control over your draft picks. And the likelihood is that you’re going to lose a couple here,” Marks said.“Listen, if we’re going back on past precedent, we can go back to Minnesota with Joe Smith, and we can go back to the Clipper stuff from the summer. If they are found guilty, there are going to be draft picks stripped, and people are going to be suspended indefinitely for a long time here.”Windhorst wrapped things up with quite the analogy.“Listen, you call this the danger zone. I call this hell. This is like, ‘whoa, what happens if hell freezes over?’ It’s a Milwaukee NBA season for the next five or six years. That’s what happens.”The post Brian Windhorst expects severe punishment for Bucks over salary cap circumvention appeared first on Awful Announcing.