Gary Trent Jr. Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Raptors’ Barnes, Young, Trent Unlikely To Play In Game 2

April 17th, 2022 at 3:20pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

3:20pm: The Raptors have confirmed in a press statement that Barnes, Trent and Young are all doubtful to play in a critical Game 2 against the Sixers on Monday.

The club has indicated that Barnes officially has been diagnosed with a left ankle sprain, while the official diagnosis for Young is a left thumb hyperextension.

12:55pm: Raptors head coach Nick Nurse said today that rookie forward Scottie Barnes, veteran forward Thaddeus Young, and starting shooting guard Gary Trent Jr. are doubtful to suit up in Toronto’s second game of its first round series vs. the Sixers on Monday, reports Tim Bontemps of ESPN.

According to Bontemps, Nurse indicated that all three Raptors players will be monitored over the course of the next day.

“I mean, listen, it doesn’t look good for any of those guys,” Nurse said after a team practice Sunday. “They’re all going to be listed as probably doubtful, so it doesn’t look good for any of them. We’ll evaluate them as we go and see where we end up.”

Josh Lewenberg of TSN Sports reports (via Twitter) that Trent left the club’s practice Sunday as he deals with an illness. Nurse revealed that the ailment, a non-coronavirus illness, has kept Trent’s attendance in practice erratic.

Barnes, who tweaked the ankle during the Raptors’ 131-111 Game 1 loss to the Sixers on Sunday, is undergoing an MRI on the ankle. Young, dealing with a left thumb sprain, already got an MRI of his own and is currently waiting on the results.

Losing Barnes and Trent, both of whom started for Toronto Saturday, would be a big blow for the fifth-seeded Raptors, already the underdogs in the series. Young played for six minutes yesterday as a reserve.

The 6’9″ Barnes, a first-year player out of Florida State, is a finalist for Rookie of the Year hardware this season. Across his 74 contests for the 48-34 Raptors, the 20-year-old is averaging 15.3 PPG, 7.5 RPG and 3.5 APG, while shooting 49.2% from the field and connecting on 73.5% of his free-throw looks.

Raptors Notes: Playoffs, VanVleet, Trent Jr., Lowry

April 5th, 2022 at 10:16pm CST by Rory Maher

Following Cleveland’s loss to Orlando, the Raptors beat the Hawks by a score of 118-108 on Tuesday night, clinching a playoff berth as a top-six seed in the East, writes Doug Smith of The Toronto Star. After the game, coach Nick Nurse indicated he would rest Fred VanVleet, who’s been hampered by a sore right knee since before the All-Star break.

“He obviously is not 100 percent but he’s lacing them up and giving everything he’s got…I give him a lot of credit,” Nurse said (Twitter link via Michael Grange of Sportsnet).

Nurse also suggested he’d rest other banged-up players in the final three games, Grange tweets. As Josh Lewenberg of TSN Sports observes (via Twitter), one additional benefit of making the playoffs outright is the team will get an extra six days rest between the final regular season game and its first playoff game, which could be crucial for injured players like VanVleet and OG Anunoby (quad), among others.

Here’s more on Toronto:

The Bulls fell to the Bucks on Tuesday, so the Raptors hold a one-game lead for the No. 5 seed in the East. Both teams have three games remaining, but the Bulls hold the tiebreaker due to a better head-to-head record. Toronto closes its schedule with games against the Sixers, Rockets and Knicks, while Chicago faces the Celtics, Hornets and Wolves, per Lewenberg (Twitter link).
Gary Trent Jr. earned a couple of $75K bonuses recently — one for the team winning 45 games, and another for making the playoffs, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks. If the Raptors finish as a top-five seed, Trent will earn another $75K bonus.
Toronto’s roster is undeniably influenced by Kyle Lowry, according to Lewenberg. Eric Koreen of The Athletic makes a similar point, stating that the team has been constructed in the spirit of Lowry. “They play hard every night,” Lowry said before Sunday’s game, his first in Toronto as a member of the Heat. “They’re all over the place. They scramble. They’re athletic. They help each other very well. They don’t give up much. They remind me a lot of just the team that, when we were down 15 in the fourth quarter, we find ways to win games, scrap and claw and find a way, and fight to win a game. That’s what these guys do. There’s never a moment where they just don’t feel like they can’t win the game.”

Injury Notes: N. Powell, LeBron, Suggs, Raptors

March 23rd, 2022 at 3:18pm CST by Luke Adams

Appearing on TNT during Tuesday’s broadcast of the Clippers/Nuggets game, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports provided a positive update on Norman Powell‘s recovery from a fractured left foot (video link via Tomer Azarly of ClutchPoints).

“Norm Powell, sources tell me, is itching to get back out there and is expected to return at some point before the end of the regular season,” Haynes said.

Responding to the report, Powell seemed to take exception to Haynes’ assessment of his situation, tweeting, “What sources? Is saying how I feel? It’s either from me or fake news. Chill with the sources talk. Smh.”

It’s unclear what part of Haynes’ report Powell was objecting to — presumably, the veteran swingman is doing all he can to make it back on the court before the Clippers participate in the Western Conference play-in tournament next month.

Here are a few more injury-related updates from around the NBA:

Lakers star LeBron James has been ruled out of Wednesday’s game vs. Philadelphia due to left knee soreness, tweets Jovan Buha of The Athletic. Since Los Angeles doesn’t play again until Sunday, holding James out tonight will give him nearly a full week to rest his knee, which has bothered him for much of the season.
Magic guard Jalen Suggs has missed four straight games due to a right ankle bone bruise, but the team isn’t shutting him down for the rest of the season, head coach Jamahl Mosley said on Tuesday, per Khobi Price of The Orlando Sentinel. “Him and I actually just had a very good conversation a moment ago about his competitive nature and what he wants to do,” Mosley said. “For that young man, playing is the thing he loves to do the most. Being around his teammates is what he loves to do the most in these situations. We’ll focus on his health, which is obviously the biggest thing. If he’s healthy, we’ll have him on the court ready to play.”
Raptors guard Fred VanVleet told reporters that sitting out a game in back-to-back sets is “not doing much” to alleviate his nagging knee pain, but said he understands why the team is going that route (Twitter link via Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca). “I probably would’ve been even less effective than I was (Monday vs. the Bulls) if I would’ve played (Sunday vs. the Sixers),” VanVleet said after Monday’s loss in which he shot just 7-of-22 from the field. “It’s a difficult situation. I gotta figure it out.”
Eric Koreen of The Athletic (all Twitter links) passed along several more Raptors injury updates, noting that OG Anunoby (finger) practiced on Wednesday, while Gary Trent Jr. (toe) didn’t. Both players are officially listed as questionable for Thursday’s game vs. Cleveland but seem closer to doubtful, says Koreen.

Atlantic Notes: Raptors, Harris, Nets, Horford

March 5th, 2022 at 10:04am CST by Dana Gauruder

The Raptors must address their perimeter shooting this offseason, Eric Koreen of The Athletic argues. Gary Trent‘s shooting slump and injuries to Fred VanVleet and OG Anunoby have exposed the lack of natural shooters on the roster. Toronto ought to focus on finding another shooter or two in free agency or the draft, Koreen says. The Raptors currently rank 13th in 3-point shooting.

We have more from the Eastern Conference:

The Nets had discussions with several teams prior to the trade deadline regarding Joe Harris, according to Ian Begley of SNY.tv. However, Harris’ ankle injury impacted what teams were willing to give up for him. Harris, who hasn’t played since Nov. 14, opted this week for season-ending surgery on his left ankle. He has two years left on his four-year, $75MM contract.
The Nets are running out of time to build chemistry, Mark W. Sanchez of the New York Post notes. Even with Kevin Durant back in the lineup, the rotation remains in flux. Ben Simmons has yet to make his season debut, Kyrie Irving‘s availability remains uncertain, Goran Dragic just joined the team and the coaches are still sorting out frontcourt options. “We are cutting it close,” Durant said. “There’s under 20 games left in the season. We have to go out there and figure it out.”
Al Horford has proven his worth during the Celtics’ turnaround, Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe writes. Boston has outscored opponents by 7.6 points per 100 possessions with Horford on the court. Horford, whose $26.5MM salary next season is partially guaranteed, has been a defensive anchor during the resurgence. “Everybody thinks Al is up there in age and that he’s lost it,” Marcus Smart said. “He’s still got it.”

Mavericks Notes: Dinwiddie, Trent, Porzingis, Kidd

March 4th, 2022 at 12:51pm CST by Luke Adams

Having appeared in his 50th game of the season on Thursday, Mavericks guard Spencer Dinwiddie has earned a $1.5MM bonus, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks. Since that bonus was considered unlikely this season and will now be considered likely in 2022/23, Dinwiddie’s cap hit for next season will increase from $18MM to $19.5MM, Marks observes.

Dinwiddie’s ability to reach the 50-game threshold could have additional financial ramifications beyond this season’s $1.5MM bonus. As Marks explains, the point guard’s contract includes language that calls for his third-year salary to become fully guaranteed if he appears in at least 50 games in each of the first two years of the contract.

For now, that 2023/24 salary – which will be worth at least $18.9MM and could get as high as $21.4MM via incentives – is partially guaranteed for $10MM. The remainder would become guaranteed if Dinwiddie plays at least 50 games in 2022/23.

Dinwiddie’s $1.5MM bonus is the second-highest individual incentive to ever be earned, according to Marks (Twitter link), who says Andrew Bogut‘s $1.9MM bonus in 2015 for All-Defense honors holds that record.

Here’s more on the Mavericks:

Before Dallas traded Kristaps Porzingis to Washington on deadline day last month, there were rumors that the Mavs and Raptors were discussing a possible deal. Appearing on The Lowe Post podcast with ESPN’s Zach Lowe, Tim MacMahon of ESPN shared a little more information on that rumor. “My understanding is their discussions there were (Goran) Dragic and Gary Trent,” MacMahon said (hat tip to RealGM). “Toronto understandably said, ‘We’re not giving up Gary Trent Jr.'”
MacMahon also provided more details on why the Mavericks were motivated to move Porzingis and why they were satisfied with a return of Spencer Dinwiddie and Davis Bertans for Porzingis and a second-round pick. “The Mavericks basically got to the point of ‘Hey, financially it’s a wash, but it’s two smaller contracts that would be easier to move,'” MacMahon told Lowe, per RealGM. “And they felt like K.P. was kind of in the way and those two guys could fill roles off the bench, so they pulled the trigger as soon as they found a deal where they didn’t have to give up a first-round pick. A lot of that was that the fit with K.P. wasn’t there. It doesn’t mean Porzingis necessarily did anything wrong. The Mavericks took a huge swing and a miss on him. It didn’t work out.”
In a conversation with Sam Amick of The Athletic, Mavs head coach Jason Kidd said he believes he’s grown since his days of coaching the Nets and Bucks. “I learned a lot from Frank (Vogel),“ said Kidd, who was on Vogel’s staff as a Lakers assistant before being hired by Dallas. “Don’t worry about the small stuff. If there’s something to address, address it.”

Raptors Notes: Trade Options, Roster Flexibility, Trent, Boucher

February 8th, 2022 at 5:56pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The Raptors‘ front office, led by team president Masai Ujiri and GM Bobby Webster, will have a variety of intriguing options ahead of Thursday’s trade deadline, writes Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. Grange notes that Toronto, a team that has won six straight contests, could look to improve its current roster without wholly sacrificing its future.

The team can offload the $19.4MM expiring contract of veteran point guard Goran Dragic, who has not been with the Raptors since November. Future draft picks and the expiring deal of big man Chris Boucher could also be moved.

The Raptors clearly need to shore up their bench depth, per Grange, who observes that four of the team’s starters rank within the NBA’s top seven in minutes per game. Scoring and passing are particular areas in which Toronto could look to improve. Grange considers Hawks guard Bogdan Bogdanovic and Rockets guard Eric Gordon to be potential targets.

There’s more out of Toronto:

Beyond seeking a ball-handler or shooter, the Raptors could also be on the prowl for a center at the trade deadline, opines Doug Smith of the Toronto Star. Smith believes that the expiring contract of Dragic equips the club with significant leverage at the deadline. Today’s trades that saw players at the caliber of CJ McCollum, Domantas Sabonis and Tyrese Haliburton changing zip codes have apparently not impacted Toronto’s trade plans. “You always take a look at as far as setting the kind of market value, but I don’t think any of the deals have materially changed that.” Raptors GM Bobby Webster said. “I don’t feel like the value proposition has changed for many teams. They’re still interested in the deals or they’re still not interested.”
Raptors wing Gary Trent Jr. is much happier with the Raptors than he had been with the Trail Blazers, his father, Gary Trent Sr., told Alex Wong and William Lou of Sportsnet.ca on The Raptors Show With Will Lou. “My biggest thing when I’m watching my son play is the happiness and joy that he plays with now,” the elder Trent said. “My son was depressed and so down and so sad in Portland that watching him play actually used to hurt.”
Raptors big man Chris Boucher, a possible trade candidate for the club, could just be solidifying his place as a key reserve in the Toronto pecking order with his strong recent play, opines Eric Koreen of The Athletic. Boucher has honed his craft in his fifth NBA season. “He is a good rebounder, but he used to do it (by) just chasing the ball,” head coach Nick Nurse said. “And now we’ve asked him to put his body on people and do it a little bit more, I guess, fundamentally to make sure the other guy doesn’t get it… He’s hanging in there, and, well, he’s really playing well, and that’s a big improvement area for him to go find somebody to hit when a shot goes up.”

Atlantic Notes: Trent, Celtics, Beal, Harden

February 3rd, 2022 at 2:40pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Raptors shooting guard Gary Trent Jr. has been proving his mettle as a valuable addition to a scrappy Toronto team, opines Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. Trent has firmly carved out a role for himself as a starter with the Raptors.

“It’s big,” head coach Nick Nurse said of Trent’s current scoring tear (31+ points in five straight games). “It gives you a huge lift and then he gives you somewhere to go, too, with some play calls and then it usually gives you something to counter back against, too, because he’ll draw so much attention that we can go back to someone else. That’s big.”

After shipping Norman Powell to the Trail Blazers for Trent at the trade deadline last season, the Raptors showed how much they expected out of Trent when they signed him to a three-year, $54MM contract in the offseason. Grange notes that Nurse and the rest of the Raptors organization emphasized their interest in seeing Trent step up as a defender and develop into a more significant three-point catch-and-shoot scorer.

Trent’s season has been so good, writes Josh Lewenberg of TSN, that the 23-year-old may be too valuable to the 26-23 Raptors to use as a potential trade chip ahead of next week’s deadline.

“It’s just the opportunity to shoot and score, unlimited shots, kind of let me go out there and play,” Trent said. “You don’t have to worry about anything. I don’t have to look over my shoulder anymore. If I miss a shot or kick it off my leg, my coaching staff believes in me. They’re allowing me to play and allowing me to roll with the punches.”

There’s more out of the Atlantic Division:

As the NBA trade deadline approaches, Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston previews potential options available to the Celtics. The team is coming off a hot January, in which it went 10-6 to move to a respectable 28-25 on the season, still only good for the No. 9 seed in the crowded East. Because Boston remains mired in relative mediocrity, Forsberg suggests the club could be in tax-avoidance mode, making big transactions less than likely before the 2022 offseason. That said, Forsberg speculates that the team could opt to offload guards like Romeo Langford or Dennis Schröder, among others.
The Sixers could face an intriguing opportunity at the trade deadline. Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer ponders what Philadelphia should do if adding Wizards shooting guard Bradley Beal suddenly becomes a viable option. Beal could opt out of the last year of his current deal with the Wizards and become an unrestricted free agent this summer. With that reality in mind as the deadline approaches, Beal could force Washington’s hand and compel the only team he has ever known to trade him. Pompey wonders if the Sixers will consider adding a high-level isolation scorer in his prime, even if Beal is having a down scoring year by his standards and has never been much of a defender. The team’s reluctance to include Tyrese Maxey or Matisse Thybulle in an outgoing trade could limit its ability to add a star player.
Nets shooting guard James Harden did not mince words when discussing Brooklyn’s current six-game losing slump, per Nick Friedell of ESPN. “I think we’ve done too much talking,” Harden said. “It’s just, we got to go out there and do it, and do it consistently. We have times when we’re great, and we have times when we’re really bad. We just got to find some consistency throughout the course of games more times than not.” It should be noted that Harden, averaging 22.5 PPG, 10.2 APG and 8.0 RPG on the season, said this on a night when he shot 2-of-11 from the floor and netted a total of four points, 12 assists, seven rebounds and six turnovers.

Lakers Notes: Trent, Jordan, Bazemore, Monk, Westbrook

January 12th, 2022 at 12:32pm CST by Luke Adams

As part of their due diligence exploring the trade market, the Lakers have expressed interest in Raptors wing Gary Trent Jr., league sources tell Michael Scotto of HoopsHype.

The Lakers could theoretically put together an offer for Trent, who is earning $16MM, using Talen Horton-Tucker as the primary salary-matching piece. However, there has been no indication that the Raptors want to move on from the former Duke standout, who is one of Toronto’s most-used players (32 starts, 34.0 MPG), most reliable three-point shooters (.368 3PT%), and most active defenders (1.9 steals and 3.5 deflections per game).

Scotto acknowledges that a deal between the two teams appears unlikely for the time being.

Here’s more on the Lakers:

Scotto also confirmed on the latest HoopsHype Podcast that the Lakers have made DeAndre Jordan and Kent Bazemore available, as ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported last week. According to Scotto, the Lakers aren’t interested in attaching a draft pick to move either player, so they’d likely need to use cash to grease the wheels if teams aren’t interested in Jordan or Bazemore on their own. Los Angeles can still trade up to $4,435,000 in cash during the 2021/22 league year.
Malik Monk has been a bright spot for an up-and-down Lakers team recently, averaging 20.0 PPG on .523/.475/.900 shooting in his last eight games. However, the better he plays, the more challenging it will be for L.A. to bring him back. As Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report outlines, unless they dip into their mid-level exception, the Lakers will be limited to offering Monk a Non-Bird raise of just 20% more than his minimum salary when he hits free agency.
Like teammate Carmelo Anthony has done in recent years, Lakers point guard Russell Westbrook has been asked to accept a lower-usage role this season and is still adjusting to it, writes Kyle Goon of the Southern California News Group. Westbrook’s 27.9% usage rate would be high for most players, but it’s the first time since 2009/10 that he’s registered a number below 30%.

COVID-19 Updates: Wizards, Billups, Thunder, Hornets, Raptors, More

December 27th, 2021 at 3:53pm CST by Luke Adams

The Wizards now have five players in the NBA’s health and safety protocols, according to head coach Wes Unseld Jr., who told reporters today that Anthony Gill and Thomas Bryant are the latest players to enter the protocols (Twitter link via Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington).

Bryant is coming off an ACL tear and has yet to play this season, so being in the protocols won’t affect his availability. However, Gill will no longer be an option in the short term for the Wizards after appearing in eight of the team’s last 11 games.

Here are more COVID-19 updates from around the NBA:

Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups has entered the COVID-19 protocols, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter links), who reports that assistant Scott Brooks is expected to become Portland’s acting head coach as long as Billups is unavailable.
Aleksej Pokusevski and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl of the Thunder have entered the health and safety protocols, according to the team (Twitter link via Wojnarowski). Aaron Wiggins also briefly entered the protocols, but has since been listed as available, tweets Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman. Oklahoma City now has four players in the protocols.
The Hornets announced some good news and some bad news on Monday. While Cody Martin has exited the protocols and has been cleared to play on Monday vs. Houston, rookie Scottie Lewis is now in the protocols, according to the team (Twitter link).
Three Raptors players – Pascal Siakam, Khem Birch, and Gary Trent Jr. – have exited the protocols and are listed as questionable for Tuesday’s game vs. Philadelphia as they go through a reconditioning period, tweets Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca. Toronto still has seven players in the protocols, but may finally be trending in the right direction.
Celtics forward Grant Williams boarded a flight to Minnesota earlier today and expects to play tonight vs. the Wolves, according to Jared Weiss of The Athletic (Twitter link). Williams has been in the health and safety protocols since December 17.
Although Ziaire Williams remains on the shelf due to an ankle sprain, he’s no longer listed in the protocols in the Grizzlies‘ latest injury report, suggesting he has been cleared.

Raptors To Sign Brandon Goodwin, Juwan Morgan; Gary Trent Jr. In Protocols

December 20th, 2021 at 12:46pm CST by Luke Adams

The Raptors, who have multiple players in the NBA’s health and safety protocols, are signing a pair of replacement players, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter links). Guard Brandon Goodwin and forward Juwan Morgan are getting called up from the G League to join Toronto’s roster, Charania reports.

Pascal Siakam and Dalano Banton entered the health and safety protocols over the weekend and the Raptors also placed Gary Trent Jr. in the protocols today, per Blake Murphy of Sportsnet (Twitter link).

Goodwin, 26, has appeared in 97 NBA games since 2018 for Denver and Atlanta, averaging 4.7 PPG and 1.6 APG in 97 games (11.4 MPG). He has been playing for the Westchester Knicks in the G League this season, putting up 15.3 PPG, 7.0 APG, 5.1 RPG, and 1.9 SPG in seven contests (35.1 MPG) for New York’s affiliate.

Morgan, meanwhile, has averaged 12.6 PPG, 7.0 RPG, and 2.3 APG on .559/.388/.867 shooting in 13 games (31.6 MPG) for the Maine Celtics this season after spending the previous two years with the Jazz. The former Indiana Hoosier has appeared in 50 NBA games, but has been limited mostly to garbage time, averaging 1.4 PPG and 1.1 RPG in 5.6 MPG.

Goodwin and Morgan will sign 10-day contracts, and neither player’s deal will count against Toronto’s team salary for cap or tax purposes.