It required five postseasons without a name before Masai Ujiri had seen enough.
With Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan anchoring the backcourt, the Toronto Raptors had tapped out. In five seasons from 2013-14 to 2017-18, the Raptors won more regular-season games than any other Eastern Conference team, but the Raptors saw more first-round exits compared to trips to the Eastern Conference finals, never reaching the NBA Finals.
And last July, Ujiri forced his movement. The Raptors traded DeRozan — the top scorer in franchise history at the summit of his career — combined with Jakob Poeltl along with a top-20 shielded 2019 first-round pick into the San Antonio Spurs to get Kawhi Leonard, Danny Green and money considerations. The Lowry-DeRozan backcourt was broken up, the athlete of the Year Dwane Casey was let go after seven seasons, and also a new age in Toronto had begun.
The results have, so far, been optimistic. Despite Leonard lost about a quarter of this season, the Raptors now have greater championship chances than they did at this time last year. Therefore, Ujiri’s home run put the rest of the league on notice. If DeRozan is not secure, who is? The same as Miami’s Big Three triggered the era of player agency, the Raptors could have broken the seal to additional perennial underachievers to follow suit.
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