Gary Trent Jr. Has Thrived in 6th Man Role: 'He's a Good Weapon For Us'

The Toronto Raptors see Gary Trent Jr. as a weapon who can create for himself in the sixth man role this season

Aaron Rose | Dec 1, 2022

Andrew Wevers-USA TODAY Sports

Gary Trent Jr. has created quite a conundrum for himself.

On one hand, he's undoubtably like every other NBA player with a thirst to get back in the starting lineup for the Toronto Raptors, having been swapped into the sixth man role for the past two games. To do that, the task is simple: Play better and prove you deserve a starting spot again. But therein lies the problem. The better he plays as off the bench the further entrenched he becomes as Toronto's sixth man of the future.

A two-game sample size is virtually meaningless, but at this point it's all we have to work with. So here we go.

Coming into last Monday night, Trent had been mired in quite possibly the worst shooting slump of his career. He'd shot well below 40% for the better part of November and was sub-30% from behind the arc. Then came the switch to the bench. Toronto moved Trent into a reserve spot and ta-da: 16-for-26 (55.2%) shooting from the field, 8-for-16 from three-point range, and 49 points in two games including a 35-point breakout on Wednesday night that set a franchise record for most points scored by a player off the bench.

OK, it's not quite that simple. But what's notable about these past two games is Trent's usage rate. He'd averaged a 22.6% usage as a starter this season, a number somewhat bloated by a recent stretch in which Pascal Siakam and at times Scottie Barnes and Fred VanVleet were all sidelined. In his two games off the bench, his usage has jumped to 28.7%.

Trent is, for better or for worse, the kind of player who needs the ball in his hands to thrive. In the starting lineup, surrounded by a pair of All-Stars, the reigning Rookie of the Year, and a burgeoning O.G. Anunoby, there's not much room for Trent to create for himself.

Off the bench, that's an entirely different story. There's opportunities galore in the second unit for Trent to dipsy-doodle around defenders with his herky-jerky pull-up game.

"He can score the ball whenever he wants to," Siakam told reporters Wednesday night in New Orleans. "He can be the offense in that in that second unit, just coming in and playing and just having the basketball.

"He's the type of player coming off screens or whatever and I think hopefully it makes him feel like comfortable and he gets the offense, it translates to [his] defense and all that. So I think he's a good weapon for us."

That's where Trent thrived last season. He ranked in the 84th percentile in scoring off screens, the 72nd percentile in scoring off handoffs, and 75th percentile in scoring in isolation, per NBA Stats. The problem for him was a lack of attempts with so many skilled players flanking him on the court.

The change may not have been how Trent envisioned his season going, especially as a presumed-to-be free agent this summer. But now Trent finally has an opportunity to show exactly who he is as a higher usage offensive player the way Tyler Herro and Jordan Poole did off the bench before signing massive contracts this past summer.

"Whatever opportunity is given to me, I'm going to do my best to go out there and showcase the work I've put in," he told reporters Wednesday. "Anything coach draws up is a good thing."

Further Reading