With All-Star weekend behind us, the Toronto Raptors will head into the home stretch of their season. It has been a year marked by change in the North, with four of the team's five leading scorers this season being dealt away in trades.
As the Raptors lean into a rebuild and try to find their new identity, there will be a lot of moving parts. Several more players could be traded away in the offseason as the team determines what their direction will be going forward.
Toronto will look at the performance of their roster so far this year to help them determine who will be the core pieces going forward. A few players have been underperforming this season, while a few others have exceeded expectations.
Underperforming: Gary Trent Jr.
Playing in his fourth season with the Raptors, Gary Trent Jr. has not been up to par with his usual standard of performance so far this year. Part of this is due to playing time. After playing over 31 minutes a night in each of his first three seasons with the franchise, Trent is now logging just 26.3 minutes per game in 2023-24.
Trent was a full-time starter back in the 2021-22 season in Toronto, starting in 69 out of 70 contests played. Since then, his minutes and appearances in the starting lineup have both slowly dwindled. So far this year, he is averaging only 11.5 points per game, his lowest scoring mark since his sophomore season with the Portland Trail Blazers.
It is clear that Trent has been less effective than usual as of late. He is shooting a full eight percentage points less on two-point shots this season compared to last. With his drop in production, it is uncear whether he will be in the Raptors' long-term plans going forward.