Raptors Coach Talks Gary Trent Jr.'s Progress as Free Agency Nears

The Toronto Raptors see Gary Trent Jr. as one of the league's best shooters and someone who can help an offense as his free agency nears this summer

Apr 9, 2024; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Raptors guard Gary Trent Jr. (33) shoots the ball / Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports

Gary Trent Jr. is an offensive weapon.

Sure, it wasn’t a great season for the 25-year-old sharpshooter who will head into free agency this summer. He’s yet to take a significant step forward in his development since joining the Toronto Raptors back in 2021 and it’s fair to say he’s more one-dimensional than anyone would like.

But when it comes to filling a role as a three-point shooter, Trent is among the league’s best.

He shot 39.3% from three-point range and led the league with a 51.3% three-point stroke on “wide open” three-point shots, as measured by the NBA’s tracking data.

“Gary Trent is the best spot-up shooter in the league,” Raptors coach Darko Rajaković said Tuesday. “As the season went on he was really able to diversify his game as well, to score much more off of cuts. I thought that he improved his finishing around the rim, especially off of two feet. If you look at just numbers production, I agree obviously that his numbers dipped down, but I think that his overall game improved as this season went on.”

Rajaković isn’t entirely right about his stats. Trent's shooting percentage near the rim dropped compared to last season. In terms of spot-up shooting, Trent actually ranked 11th in the league among players with at least 300 spot-up possessions, generating 1.14 points per possession, per Synergy. Ironically, it’s Norman Powell, the player Toronto gave up to acquire Trent, who led the league.

But there’s no doubt Trent’s three-point shooting prowess helped the Raptors who were 5.9 points per 100 possessions more effective with Trent on the court this season compared to when he sat. That number is the highest among regular rotation players for Toronto, per Cleaning the Glass.

There’s also a quiet professionalism that Trent brings to the team. He’s not Kyle Lowry or Fred VanVleet, but he’s the kind of player who shows up every day and does his job at a high level. He’s filled essentially every role in the league, from G Leaguer, to non-rotation player, to depth piece, to sixth-man, to starter, and it’s helped him be a mentor for some of the organization’s younger players.

“That was another interesting one to see him from being very quiet at the beginning of the season to seeing him speak up when we go through our scouting reports,” Rajaković said. “His leadership and voice went a long way working out together with Gradey. So I think he made a lot of strides that are not necessarily showing up in the box score.”

But now Toronto has a decision to make.

The roster is starting to fill up with offense-first guards and it’s tough to see Trent being a long-term fit in the starting lineup for the Raptors. Gradey Dick is going to be coming for that spot and it’d probably be a good idea for Toronto to add a more defense-first guard or wing to the starting group.

In that respect, Trent’s free agency future may come down to what he’s looking for. It’s entirely possible some other organization in desperate need of shooting will look at Trent as the kind of sparkplug necessary to pair with a young core. Maybe someone goes above and beyond to add Trent this summer.

But Toronto has a track record of taking care of its free agents and while Trent isn’t the perfect player, he fits with the young core and could bring some stability to an organization that’s lacking continuity. The Raptors aren’t likely to break the bank for Trent, but letting him go for nothing isn’t a wise decision either.