With Rudy Gay continuing to deal with back issues, the Toronto Raptors will soon discuss whether or not to shut down the forward for the rest of the season.

“It depends on how he responds,” Casey said to the question of shutting Gay down. “(T)hat’s something that will be talked about sooner rather than later.”

Gay missed the Raptors' loss to the New York Knicks on Saturday, instead staying in Toronto for treatment on his back.

Gay was traded by the Memphis Grizzlies to the Raptors in late January, but he has shot just 40.2 percent from the field since the deal and the Raptors have fallen far out of the playoff chase.

Rudy Gay has been playing through a back injury that first surfaced on March 1, and even though he has received two games off, the issue is still lingering.

“I’m sure it does (bother him),” Dwane Casey said, “but you’ll have to ask him how much it does restrict him, how much it does take away form his movement and his shooting. I do notice he hasn’t been himself since he’s had the back issues the night we played Milwaukee.”

Gay is shooting just 36.7 percent from the field in March.

“Your back is such a big part of what you do,” Casey said. “Shooting the ball, handling the ball, definitely defensively, getting down into the stance.”

The Toronto Raptors have not discussed the possibility of amnestying Andrea Bargnani, who has two more years remaining on his contract.

Bargnani’s season was cut short with an avulsion sprain of his right elbow.

Bargnani was averaging 12.7 points per game, and shooting 40 percent from the floor, including 31.1 percent from beyond the arc.

Andrea Bargnani will miss the remainder of the season due to an avulsion sprain of his right elbow.

Bargnani has struggled this season and has been a subject of trade rumors.

The Toronto Raptors are expected to pursue Carl Landry this offseason if he opts out of his contract with the Golden State Warriors, according to a source.

The Raptors will seek a veteran power forward this summer.

Amir Johnson has had a breakout season for Toronto at the power forward position and are also looking for a resolution to the Andrea Bargnani situation.

Rudy Gay disagrees with the Memphis Grizzlies' new ownership's decision to trade him.

"You have to give me a chance to see if I'm worth that," Gay told Yahoo! Sports.

Gay anticipated a possible trade when Robert Pera assumed ownership of the Grizzlies.

"With [new management], I don't think anybody's comfortable," Gay said. "They're rookie owners. They come in there and they want it their own way, and you can't blame them for that. But it's a player's league."

A source says the Raptors will likely offer a contract extension to Gay in the offseason.

"I needed a change," Gay said of the trade. "I needed a new situation. A new task. I needed a new task with something I could grasp, something I could take over. I need to be challenged. I was challenged in Memphis, but it was tug of war at times. Here I'm being challenged and they're seeing what I'm made of."

The Raptors are 7-8 since Gay was acquired.

"Last time I left it up to my agent and it worked for me," Gay said about a possible extension with the Raptors. "I love the city. I think the team has a lot of potential. The organization is great. [Bryan Colangelo] is here and he is watching every step trying to make this team better."

After a recent game between the Los Angeles Clippers and Raptors, Chauncey Billups had dinner with Kyle Lowry and let Lowry know that he has to take advantage of the faith that Toronto has given him.

Billups also impressed upon Lowry the trust the Raptors have in him to trade Jose Calderon and give him another shot as the starting point guard.

Billups advised Lowry not to damage his relationship with the Raptors again.

The Toronto Raptors have reassigned rookie forward Quincy Acy to the Bakersfield Jam, Toronto’s NBA Development League affiliate. 

Acy (6-7, 225, Baylor) has appeared in 20 games for Toronto this season, averaging 3.0 points, 1.8 rebounds and 7.7 minutes. 

He appeared in three games for Bakersfield from December 6-10, averaging 12.7 points, 4.7 rebounds and 21.7 minutes. He posted highs of 18 points, five rebounds and 23 minutes in his debut Dec. 7 at Reno.

Dwane Casey expects the Toronto Raptors’ front office to build around Rudy Gay and DeMar DeRozan.

"Rudy is great. It's going to be built around Rudy and DeMar," Casey said. "I think DeMar's growth has been unbelievable."

DeRozan has improved his Player Efficiency Rating from 12.8 as a third-year player to 15.0 this season.   

Casey is counting on Jonas Valanciunas to make strides as the Raptors’ interior scorer.

This season, Toronto ranks 27th in percentage of points scored in the paint (37.8).

"Productivity in the paint and I think that's going to come with the maturation of Valanciunas, whose going to be better,” Casey said when asked about avenues of improvement. “This time next year we will be able to have quite a few post-ups for him. His game will elevate to that level. I think we can be really good going forward in the future."