Gradle dependencies yielded via [implementation files] are not respected

[Vassilena-Treneva-IBM]

Extension Name: vscode-gradle
Extension Version: 3.16.4
OS Version: Windows
VSCode version: 1.98.2

Describe the bug
Dependency declarations like this one are not taken into account when importing a gradle project:

project.tasks.classes.dependsOn(project(":vehicle").tasks.classes)
dependencies {
    implementation files(project(":vehicle").sourceSets.main.output.classesDirs)
}

Despite being a bad-practise some projects use this approach and this is a valid gradle syntax.

To Reproduce
Attaching a sample gradle zipped project, which builds successfully using a command line: gradlew assemble
vscode fails to import it despite that gradle builds it.
sample.zip

Expected behavior
The IDE should do as Gradle does - import the project successfully

Screenshots

Output from "Gradle for Java"
There is no actual error here, looks as if runs ok:

[info] [gradle-server] Gradle Server started, listening on 60301
[info] Gradle client connected to server
[info] Java Home: C:\Users\VasilenaTreneva\.vscode\extensions\redhat.java-1.40.0-win32-x64\jre\21.0.6-win32-x86_64
[info] JVM Args: --add-opens,java.prefs/java.util.prefs=ALL-UNNAMED,--add-opens=java.prefs/java.util.prefs=ALL-UNNAMED,--add-opens=java.base/java.nio.charset=ALL-UNNAMED,--add-opens=java.base/java.net=ALL-UNNAMED,--add-opens=java.base/java.util.concurrent.atomic=ALL-UNNAMED,--add-opens,java.base/java.util=ALL-UNNAMED,--add-opens,java.base/java.lang=ALL-UNNAMED,--add-opens,java.base/java.lang.invoke=ALL-UNNAMED,--add-opens,java.base/java.util=ALL-UNNAMED,--add-opens,java.prefs/java.util.prefs=ALL-UNNAMED,--add-opens,java.prefs/java.util.prefs=ALL-UNNAMED,--add-opens,java.base/java.nio.charset=ALL-UNNAMED,--add-opens,java.base/java.net=ALL-UNNAMED,--add-opens,java.base/java.util.concurrent.atomic=ALL-UNNAMED,-Dfile.encoding=UTF-8,-Duser.country=GB,-Duser.language=en,-Duser.variant
[info] Gradle User Home: C:\Users\VasilenaTreneva\.gradle
[info] Gradle Version: 7.3.3
[info] Project reference :vehicle created from directory: [C:\git\sample\vehicle]
Project reference :motor-vehicle created from directory: [C:\git\sample\motor-vehicle]
Using Gradle home..........C:\Users\VasilenaTreneva\.gradle\wrapper\dists\gradle-7.3.3-v6-bin\4xp2f2mmy2wcgu3rcku1k31tb\gradle-7.3.3
Using Gradle user home.....C:\Users\VasilenaTreneva\.gradle

Deprecated Gradle features were used in this build, making it incompatible with Gradle 8.0.

You can use '--warning-mode all' to show the individual deprecation warnings and determine if they come from your own scripts or plugins.

See https://docs.gradle.org/7.3.3/userguide/command_line_interface.html#sec:command_line_warnings

CONFIGURE SUCCESSFUL in 23s
[info] Found 84 tasks
[info] Build file opened: c:\git\sample\build.gradle
[info] Build file opened: c:\git\sample\motor-vehicle\build.gradle

Does the bug still exist if you disable all other extensions?
Yes

Additional context
I am trying vscode buildship integration (build server is disabled) so I find it weird why I see this line on top of the stdout:
[info] [gradle-server] Gradle Server started, listening on 60301