The Toronto Raptors are viewed by many as a team that is going to regress in 2023-24. With Nick Nurse in Philadelphia and Fred VanVleet in Houston, many are skeptical of Toronto’s plan to replace those two franchise icons with Darko Rajakovic and Dennis Schroder, respectively.
Masai Ujiri, on the other hand, thinks this team is perfectly equipped to be a winner right out of the box. Why else would he refuse to trade VanVleet away before free agency and resist trade offers for many of Toronto’s best players? He thinks this team has made some strides in the right direction.