‘Control what you can control’: Gary Trent Jr. speaks ahead of final Raptors season game

The Toronto Raptors are playing their final game of the season Sunday afternoon in Miami. Tip-off is at 1 p.m. and you can watch it on Sportsnet.

The game will cap off a unique season that saw the team trade nearly half of the roster, a player being investigated in connection with a gambling scandal, and the organization being sued by the New York Knicks.

It was a season that was not short of any storylines. but before the Raptors tip-off in their final game CityNews spoke with Gary Trent Jr. His comments come before he enters unrestricted free agency this summer.

What are you hoping to get out of the last (Raptors season) game?

GTJ: Just building habits for next year and getting ready and just trying to continue to keep playing, and continue to go hard as a group. We have a certain standard we need to meet and to try and obviously get a win.

You have said in multiple circumstances ‘control what you can control.’ This summer you will become an unrestricted free agent, and I know you have been asked about what you’re going to do all season long, but … how difficult is it sometimes for you to actually focus on only controlling what you can especially when a decision about your future is looming?

GTJ: It could be super hard to manage sometimes. You can work for something your whole life and if it’s not going a certain way, obviously you’re going to feel some type of way about it. But the only thing is how you react to that and how you bounce back from that and that really shows who you are, and it really shows your work ethic that really shows that when everything hits the fan, or everything’s not going your way, or you may have a certain opportunity and that opportunity is now gone and then it comes back again. So it’s really just trying to stay sane and continue to work and believe in what you believe in. 

What a humble human being!! Made my daughter’s night! Thank you Gary Trent Jr