Reports out of the Toronto Raptors indicated that Providence Friar Graduate Ticket Gaines officially had a workout with the team on Monday leading up to the 2024 NBA Draft. Those reports were confirmed by an Instagram story by ticket showing a Raptors practice jersey.
This was also confirmed (if you need further confirmation) by HoopsHype.
Ticket is the prototype for an NBA 3-and-D guy. Gaines, who was the only Friar to play in all 35 games this past season (and start in all 35), made 133 three-pointers over the last three seasons (34.0% over 88 games), averaging over 44 makes a season and 1.6 three-pointers made per game. Obviously, shooting 0-17 from three over his last three games did not help his overall season average whatsoever. Those last three games single-handedly dropped his season average over 3 percentage points. I don’t see any reason why he can’t do what another short-lived yet universally loved Friar has done so far in the League, and that’s Justin Minaya. Minaya is a superior defender than Gaines, although Gaines is solid in his own right, but their games appear to be very similar.
Both are lefties who transferred late in their collegiate careers to Friartown and were fully embraced by the Friartown faithful. They both shot a similar percentage from three during their final season of college basketball but Ticket stands a full two inches taller than Minaya, making up for some of the defensive differential between the two. Minaya has gone back and forth between the Portland Trailblazers and the G-League (Mexico City Capitanes & Rip City Remix) and depending on the right situation, I could potentially see Ticket starting out his career the same way. He can focus on accentuating his specific skill (3-and-D) set rather than being tasked to do much more than was initially anticipated in Providence after Bryce Hopkins went down with his season-ending knee injury.
I can’t go another moment without mentioning one of my favorite plays of last season from Ticket, a game-winning block at the rim at Xaiver.
But if you want a big offensive play, than I guess this one should do as well…
Gaines is not afraid of the moment and will do whatever is asked for him in order to help the team. He is a worker and a superb teammate that any fanbase would be lucky to call their own. Here’s to hoping he gets a shot with somebody next season because I fully believe that he will take advantage of it.
I guess I have to make an update before I even post this, but it looks like Ticket already got a second NBA workout, this time with the Orlando Magic.
The Morning Hangover 