The price of keeping Gary Trent Jr. on the Milwaukee Bucks roster has proven to be a headache for a myriad of reasons, and a new reason is seemingly brewing in preseason. 

The Bucks signed Trent Jr. to a four-year, $64 million contract this offseason that baffled analysts across the league as they decried it as an overpay for a bench player that had a major down year last season, averaging just 8.1 points, 1.0 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game.

But the size of Trent Jr.'s contract is more troublesome than just a simple overpay. Considering that the Bucks signed him to the contract after such a down year, it raised such red flags that the NBA has started an investigation into the Bucks to see if Trent Jr's contract could be an attempt at salary cap circumvention. 

Before last season, the Bucks signed Trent Jr. to a two-year, $7.5 million contract with a player option for the second season that Trent Jr. subsequently declined to sign the larger deal.

The NBA is investigating the Bucks on the suspicion that the Bucks had a back-room deal to play Trent Jr. less upfront so that they would have more cap space to sign free agents with on the condition that he would sign the larger contract later. 

In the aftermath of the NBA's harsh punishment of the Los Angeles Clippers for their own attempt at salary cap circumvention, the league is tensely monitoring any and all possible form of tampering with cap space, and the Bucks could be in for a punishment as severe, if not worse, than what the Clippers now have to deal with.

That alone is a massive point of concern for the Bucks, but they also have to deal with having Trent Jr. on their roster in the present, and his performance so far in preseason has not been living up to his pay upgrade. 

In two preseason games, Trent Jr. has averaged just 5.5 points, 1.5 rebounds and 0.5 assists. Looking past the potentially future-altering punishment they could be facing for signing Trent Jr. at all, simply having him on the roster with this kind of performance is a liability for Milwaukee.

Trent Jr. doesn't look like a player who can contribute to winning in Milwaukee at this point and with such a massive contract attached to him, he will likely be near-impossible to trade later on if the Bucks wish to be rid of him. 

At this point, there doesn't seem to be any real value to having Trent Jr. on the court. His contract is not only hurting Milwaukee's pockets and putting the team at serious risk for punishment from the NBA, it's also binding the Bucks with a player that so far in preseason looks to be dead weight on the court.