VanVleet, Siakam "deeply frustrated" with Raptors' youth last year: report

The Toronto Raptors are, at the very least, at the beginning stages of a leadership reset.

With veteran point guard Fred VanVleet signing with the Houston Rockets and head coach Nick Nurse being hired by the Philadelphia 76ers shortly after being fired, two of Toronto’s most vocal leaders over the last few seasons are now out of town.

Emphasis on the “vocal” part.

As per Sportsnet’s Michael Grange, it wasn’t all roses and sunshine inside Toronto’s locker room, with VanVleet and Pascal Siakam voicing their displeasure with a few of their more junior teammates.

“Sources have described a team where the veterans — VanVleet and Siakam especially — were deeply frustrated with the younger players on the roster and VanVleet let them know about it, something the younger set didn’t appreciate at all,” Grange wrote in an article on July 4. “Nurse wasn’t able to bridge the divide as key players kept getting hurt and open three after open three drew only iron… the losing made everything worse.”

VanVleet, Siakam, and Toronto President Masai Ujiri have all shared a similar sentiment during their time with the organization— winning fixes everything —and, well, the Raptors didn’t do a whole lot of that last season, or at least not nearly as much as they felt capable of.

At face value, this report of a bit of a locker room rift shouldn’t be exactly surprising.

Second-year forward Scottie Barnes and 16-year NBA vet Thad Young had an argument caught by cameras during halftime of a game in early January,

While the two later said it was nothing more than a quick disagreement, it’s likely not everyone was thrilled about the eventual result of the Raptors’ season: a 41-41 record where they fell in the opening round of the play-in tournament to the Chicago Bulls.

At the very least, next season under new head coach Darko Rajaković offers next year’s roster a chance to move on from whatever camaraderie issues were ailing them over the last year.

You might also like:
• Former Raptors fan fave Anthony Parker lands job as NBA GM
• Toronto Raptors announce new coaching staff for upcoming season