Historical lineage in basketball team is real, but not quite in the same tangible emotional way to everyone. We can look in the history books (e.g. Basketball Reference), and see how the Raptors of old transitioned into and out of the Vince Carter era, understand what happened during Chris Bosh’ reign, and then nod towards what we’ve come through as of late: the rise of DeMar DeRozan, the spiritual engine of Kyle Lowry, and, yes, even that one-year walk-off with Kawhi Leonard.
For the most part, however, these three distinct time periods do not interact with each other by the people responsible for creating them.