Chris Boucher has been waiting 'a long time' to be free agent

Chris Boucher sheds light on why he's excited for free agency this summer, how he's approaching the upcoming months and advice he's received from Raptors' teammates. Listen to the full episode on the 'Hustle Play' podcast feed or watch on our Yahoo Sports Canada YouTube.

Video Transcript

- Now, I can't call you Toronto Raptors forward Chris Boucher anymore.

CHRIS BOUCHER: True.

- It's free agent forward Chris Boucher.

CHRIS BOUCHER: That feels good, man.

- It feel blessed?

CHRIS BOUCHER: Feels blessed, yeah.

- What goes through your mind when you hear that?

CHRIS BOUCHER: Oh, I mean, I've been waiting for a long time to be a free agent, just-- I mean, it's not even about wanting to leave or wanting to be somewhere else or having more, for example, opportunity. But it's more about just all the hard work that you did, something's coming from it. I've been a restricted agent. I've been on a two-way. I've been waived.

[INAUDIBLE] all that. And it took me, like, what, six years, almost-- five year and a half to get there. So to be an actually-- unrestricted free agent, and just for my family, the people that helped me, that's a good moment for us to just kind of realize how far we've come and make the right decision, too, because obviously it's not because you're a free agent and all that that you could just decide that you're going to just sign something and not worry about anything else, because you got a life, you got people around you, and you gotta think about them too.

- Have you spoken to any of your vets and gotten any advice on what the process is like there?

CHRIS BOUCHER: Nope.

- No?

CHRIS BOUCHER: I didn't think about free agency once yet. I haven't think about what I want to do or anything. I'm not [? even-- ?] like I said, when the season was over, I just wanted to relax and just-- I've been the most relaxed I've been in my whole life, just knowing that I've tried my best.

I wanted to win the championship. And I played the best that I could with all the energy I have. And now that the season is over, I can relax and just, you know, wait for whatever God's got for me because at this point right now, I think I've done my part in just showing what I'm capable of doing and putting all the energy in, working hard, and going 100% every day.

- Do you look at different factors? Do you consider different aspects of it, like things that are important to you that can contribute to, depending on where you land?

CHRIS BOUCHER: I mean, I don't know because I feel like-- I don't [? even ?] [? know ?] what a free agency, like, what the market look like, what is-- what other city looks and all that. I never really thought about that.

All I was thinking about is being in Toronto and living my life here. I'm Canadian. I was just playing basketball. I was that young kid that just wanted to play basketball and, [? well, ?] hopefully get to the point that I am now.

So beside that, now that you're here, it's like, OK, you kind of gotta wake up and realize that it's here. But I'm still not thinking about it right now, to be honest with you. The playoffs are still going on. I'm watching the games and stuff, wishing that we could be there. And there's great basketball going on now, so you could learn a lot from that too, so--