At the beginning of Lakers training camp, LeBron James said that winning a championship is not the only way to measure success at the end of the season. “There is only one championship,” James said. “That doesn’t mean you’re not successful.”
I tend to agree with LeBron, and in the past I’ve certainly felt this way about the Toronto Raptors who, despite their recent success, have never had a team that felt like a true championship contender.
But this year feels a little different.
When the Raptors traded DeMar DeRozan and Jakob Poeltl for Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green, Masai Ujiri accomplished two things: He created the best roster (on paper) the Toronto Raptors have ever had, and he hung a giant axe above the season in the form of Leonard’s impending free agency.