Basketball

Toronto Raptors off-season begins with a surprise as Gary Trent Jr. opts in

By Kevinn Colleran
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Published Jun 20, 2023  •  2 minute read

Gary Trent Jr. drives against James Harden.
Gary Trent Jr. of the Toronto Raptors drives against James Harden of the Philadelphia 76ers. Getty Images

The first curveball of Toronto’s off-season arrived Tuesday with the news that guard Gary Trent Jr. planned to opt in to the final year of his contract.

It was widely anticipated that Trent, 24, would opt out in search of a new deal on the open market (but still possibly from the Raptors in the end), given this is considered a weak free-agent class NBA-wide.

But TNT’s Chris Haynes reported Trent will instead opt-in to his $18.5-million deal for 2023-24 and will attempt to work out a long-term extension to stay put in Toronto once that becomes a possibility after July 1.

By locking in now, Trent Jr. helps the Raptors in the team’s pursuit of also keeping Fred VanVleet and Jakob Poeltl, both unrestricted free agents. At $18.5 million instead of, say, $21-$24 million to start a new deal, there is more wiggle room to bring back the veterans while still ducking the NBA’s luxury tax next season.

By the time Trent Jr. is making over $24 million a season on a new deal, the cap will have risen. That said, there are also raises due for Pascal Siakam and O.G. Anunoby in a year, if they are retained, and Scottie Barnes beyond that.

Trent, acquired by Toronto from Portland for Norman Powell in March of 2021, signed a three-year deal to originally stick around two years ago.

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Trent averaged 17.4 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game last season and shot 36.9% on three-pointers, right around this three-year averages as a Raptor (17.7 points, 37% shooting from deep in 153, games, 128 of them starts).

But he fell out of favour with former Raptors head coach Nick Nurse at times and was even called out publicly by Nurse. Trent came off the bench for 12 straight games before starting the final contest of the regular season. Trent then shot just 1-for-7 in the play-in loss against Chicago.

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Kevinn Colleran
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