NBA Rumors: 3 Potential Landing Spots For Gary Trent Jr.

Gary Trent Jr. wants to be a starter, there's really no secret about that. After coming over to the Toronto Raptors at the 2021 trade deadline, the 6'5" wing started 84 of his first 87 games in a Dinos uniform. But the second half of this past season saw him get pushed to the second unit after the acquisition of a real center (Jakob Poeltl) to insert into the Starting Five. 

He's been a consistently good shooter from range, has averaged over 17 points in his 2+ seasons in Toronto, and brings a ton of defense to the table. He has a player option at $18.5M for next season, but is thought almost certainly to be declining it to become a free agent. 

Trent has a chance to find a new home where he can be a starter. Here are three potential landing spots:

Memphis Grizzlies

Since the Grizzlies won't be bringing back defensive dynamo/super-pest Dillon Brooks "under any circumstances" they could certainly look to fill that vacancy with an on-court facsimile that doesn't bring any of the off-court shenanigans. 

Trent is a hound on defense, always among the league leaders in steals and deflections, but the difference is he can shoot from distance with more accuracy than Brooks. Trent hit on 37% of his threes in 2022-23, and is above 38% for his career, while Brooks only made 32.6% from long range this season, and has a career mark of 34.2%.

Phoenix Suns

After trading Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson in the Kevin Durant deal, the Suns were left with some holes, notably on the perimeter. Trent Jr. could fill the void in both scoring and defense that the Suns lacked after losing those two key players. The only problem here: the team is already a few million dollars over the luxury tax line. 

Los Angeles Lakers

Being a Klutch agency client, the Lakers will certainly have Trent on their radar. They'll also be entering the free agency period with close to $30M in cap space. Depending on what other moves they hope to make, Trent would be a nice piece to add to the roster, giving them another proven and dependable scorer, particularly if D'Angelo Russell isn't brought back. 

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