You know the names: Serge Ibaka. Marc Gasol. Danny Green. Jeremy Lin. Fred VanVleet. Norman Powell. Eric Moreland. Pascal Siakam. Malcolm Miller OG Anunoby. Patrick McCaw. Chris Boucher. Jodie Meeks. Kawhi Leonard. Kyle Lowry.
They’re the champs; our champs. The 2018-19 Toronto Raptors, even the ones who barely a played a minute that season, are legends, rightfully so. Their names adorn the one and only NBA championship banner hanging in the rafters outside the United States.
But only Anunoby, VanVleet, Boucher and Siakam remain. And of the others who’ve left, only one—Leonard, the first one to leave—has come back to receive the standing ovation each one so richly deserves.