DeMar DeRozan was everything a Raptors fan could ask for, almost. He was loyal, and he was passionate. He understood, and he believed. Other stars left, or talked about leaving. DeMar DeRozan wanted to stay in Toronto until the day he hung ’em up.
But stories don’t always end the way you want, and the one problem with DeRozan was both the gift and the curse of this era of the organization: Good, not great. The second-round sweep against Cleveland was a moment of truth, and it shattered management’s faith in this core. So on Wednesday the Raptors traded DeRozan and third-year centre Jakob Poeltl and a protected 2019 first-round pick for one of the very best basketball players on earth.