Just over one year ago, the Toronto Raptors were being on embarrassed on the national stage once again. LeBron James was hitting game-winners, practicing fall-aways just for fun, and re-naming the city in his likeness.
The Raptors, after being an irrelevant franchise for so many years, were no longer irrelevant. They were a punchline. A joke.
Masai Ujiri and the Raptors’ decision-makers didn’t accept that. They didn’t accept the regular season success and solid attendance for each game. They wanted more.
So the franchise pushed all their chips into the middle of the table and made a move.