Raptors 2019 NBA championship core is now completely gone

The Toronto Raptors are not who they used to be.

Today, the franchise made a blockbuster trade, sending Pascal Siakam to the Indiana Pacers as part of a three-team deal.

And while the trade significantly alters the makeup of the Raptors — it’s not exactly every day you trade away a two-time All-Star and your leading scorer — it’s also a defining end of an era when it comes to franchise history.

Siakam was just one of two players — and the only starter — remaining from the 2018-19 roster, where the team won its first title in NBA history.

With Toronto sending OG Anunoby to the New York Knicks on December 30, it’s the second major trade for the team in less than a month.

Toronto lost two core players immediately in the summer of 2019 when Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green signed for the Los Angeles Clippers and Lakers, respectively, before losing Serge Ibaka and Marc Gasol the following season to those same two sides.

In 2021, Toronto traded Norman Powell to the Portland Trail Blazers for Gary Trent Jr., and then lost Kyle Lowry to the Miami Heat as part of a sign-and-trade in free agency.

And in summer 2023, Fred VanVleet departed for the Houston Rockets in free agency following a seven-season tenure in Toronto.

The only player left on the current roster to win the title with Toronto is Chris Boucher, who played just four minutes in the 2019 playoffs on Toronto’s run to the championship, but has become a staple of the team’s bench rotation in the five seasons since.

Perhaps fittingly, Lowry is set to visit Scotiabank Arena tonight with his Miami squad, even if his old team looks quite a bit different than his glory days with them.

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• Toronto Raptors trade Pascal Siakam to Indiana Pacers