Raptors: What does re-signing Gary Trent Jr. signal about offseason plans?

The Toronto Raptors were able to acquire Gary Trent Jr. from the Portland Trail Blazers in the Norman Powell swap, and he quickly validated their faith in him by breaking personal scoring records and making clutch shots despite only playing in a handful of games in Toronto.

Trent averaged 16.2 points per game with the Raptors, and those numbers came during a 17-game stretch in which he set a new personal best for points in a game twice and nailed a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to give the Raptors a win.

However, Trent is a restricted free agent, and while the Raptors will be able to exercise plenty of control over his future, that won’t necessarily stop teams from ponying up with offer sheets. However, if John Hollinger of The Athletic is to be believed, Toronto is just dying at the possibility of bringing him back.

Hollinger is reporting that league sources believe Trent is going to return to Toronto. Even if Trent attracts some interest on the free-agent market, all signs point to a Raptors return.

Gary Trent Jr. coming back would foreshadow a Raptors spending spree.

Historically, guards like Trent that are as young and as skilled at shooting from beyond the arc as he is earn contracts that pay in the neighborhood of $15 million per year. 

Hollinger does mention in this piece that the Raptors could move off of Lowry due to their luck in the lottery, which could be a predecessor to an offseason fraught with tons of spending in order to replace Lowry. Why allocate tons of money to one 35-year-old player when that wealth could be redistributed?

If the Raptors had three big offseason goals, one of them had to have been re-signing Trent. Finding a long-term option at point guard and a new starting center could fill up the next two spots on the Raptors’ offseason goal sheet, and there is a situation in which they manage to check all three of those boxes.

With more money available to sign one of the better centers in free agency and the ability to draft a player like Jalen Suggs or Jalen Green with the No. 4 overall pick, the Raptors could be able to rebuild quickly. Be it at the shooting guard spot or as a small forward in smaller lineups, Trent’s shooting will be a big part of the plan to rebuild on the fly.

The Trent signing is not the only thing the Raptors will do this offseason, and while potentially losing Lowry is going to sting, Toronto being so proactive with regards to bringing Trent back is a sign that the front office is doing everything they can to build a winner.