Market likely to dictate if Raptors sign pending free agent Gary Trent Jr.

When the Toronto Raptors went through their four trades this season, many of the team’s veteran players found themselves in new homes.

Most notably, Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby were sent to Indiana and New York, respectively, while Thaddeus Young, Dennis Schroder, Precious Achiuwa, Malachi Flynn, Otto Porter Jr., and Kira Lewis Jr. were also on the move.

But with the team seemingly parting ways with just about everybody over the age of 25, one name who found himself in some trade rumours ended up sticking out the year in Toronto: Gary Trent Jr.

Originally acquired from the Portland Trail Blazers in 2021 as part of a package for Norman Powell, the 25-year-old Trent has now played nearly twice as many games with the Raptors — 224 to 117 — as he did in his first three seasons in Portland.

Playing 28.1 minutes a night, he averaged 13.7 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 1.7 assists in 71 games this past season. It’s a dip from his first three years in Toronto, where he averaged 17.7 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 1.8 assists in 153 games, playing no less than 31.8 minutes a night each season.

With Trent set to hit free agency this summer, both the player and the organization must make a big decision about whether to keep him as a member of the Raptors’ core in the future.

“Gary Trent is the best spot-up 3-point shooter in the league. Gary Trent, as the season went on, was really able to diversify his game as well to score much more off-cuts. I thought that he improved his finishing around the rim,” Toronto head coach Darko Rajakovic said last week. “When you look at just like numbers [and] production, I agree obviously that his numbers dipped down, but I think that his overall game improved as this season went on.”

A year ago, Trent found himself in a similar position before deciding to pick up the $18.6 million player option for the final year of his contract, which was originally a three-year deal. A report surfaced last summer from Bleacher Report’s Chris B. Haynes that Trent was working on a “lucrative” contract extension that would’ve kicked in for the 2024-25 season, though that never came to fruition.

“I think we’re going to continue to assess that as we go. We’re going to go into a lot of our team meetings now, coaches’ meetings, and try to figure that out,” Toronto president Masai Ujiri said at his end-of-season media availability last week when asked of Trent and Bruce Brown’s future in Toronto. “I think we had really good [exit] meetings with Bruce [Brown] and Gary [Trent Jr].”

Shooting 38.6% from three-point range throughout his career, it’s clear that he has a skill set that could be useful to many teams around the league. There’s likely to be no shortage of offers for a player with 341 games of NBA experience, with Trent seemingly always accepting in whatever role he’s been placed into.

However, some stability in Toronto could also benefit Trent himself, who has now spent more time playing for the Raptors than any one location he’s stayed in as an adult.

“In high school, I’m trying to rush to get to college. In college, trying to rush to get to the NBA, in the NBA, I’m trying to rush to get as much money and many accolades and as many wins as I can,” Trent said in an interview with Daily Hive last month. “So I’m just being appreciative of all of it, looking at it back, and not trying to fast forward through it.”

In any case, we’ll likely need a few months to get any clarity on Trent’s situation.

NBA teams are able to talk to free agents as of June 30, with free agency officially opening on June 6.

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