The physical transition from the Orlando Magic to the Tampa, ahem, Toronto Raptors was an easy one for Khem Birch.
All it took was an hour drive southwest from Orlando, Birch’s home since 2017, to connect with his new team in its pandemic-forced home-away-from-home, one suitcase along for the ride. Birch arrived at a hotel, and that was that.
The emotional transition away from the only organization he had played for before Monday night will be more difficult, especially with the Raptors set to square off against the Magic in Tampa on Friday. It will be little more than a week after he was waived by Orlando to pursue a larger role at his natural position, centre, with another team.