Masai Ujiri says more trades likely on the way for Raptors
Over the last three weeks, the Toronto Raptors have been a franchise full of changes.
In the past 20 days, they’ve traded out four players — including two former franchise cornerstones, Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby — while bringing in five new players and four draft picks spread across the next three drafts.
If it’s not a complete teardown of the franchise, it’s at least one of the biggest transitional periods in the organization’s nearly 30-year history.
But they’re not quite done making those changes yet.
Raptors president Masai Ujiri met with the media on Thursday, following the news of Siakam’s trade to the Indiana Pacers that broke the prior afternoon before becoming official in the evening.
It was an impassioned press conference that went on for over an hour, with Ujiri getting emotional several times while discussing his longstanding relationship with Siakam.
Besides drafting him at 27th overall in 2016, the two have a connection dating back to meeting at one of Ujiri’s Giants of Africa camps in South Africa that Siakam had travelled to from his home country of Cameroon.
“That guy’s success is my success no matter where he is,” Ujiri said. “Two African guys that won a championship.”
Masai Ujiri on his bond with Pascal Siakam:
"Two African guys that won a championship. I share that with him … Again, I say to you guys, that guy's success is my success no matter where he is." pic.twitter.com/opzpzQI0a0
— THE SHIFT (@theshift_sports) January 18, 2024
Asked if there are more moves on the horizon for the Raptors, Ujiri was direct in stating that he doesn’t expect his team to be done just yet.
“Definitely,” he said. “That’s why we’ve created flexibility, to make this team grow and continue to be bigger and better and exciting for our fans.”
The NBA trade deadline is set for February 8.
But creating that flexibility hasn’t always been easy on Ujiri. To clear the necessary space for the move, Toronto waived 2022 draft pick Christian Koloko late on Wednesday night, who has been out all season with a chronic respiratory illness.
“Someone that has incredible talent and someone we saw as the future of this team… it’s really unfortunate for us,” Ujiri said of waiving Koloko.
With Toronto holding up to three first-round picks in this year’s NBA Draft conditional on their final spot in the standings, Ujiri said that he would “strongly doubt” if Toronto didn’t make another trade with one of them soon.
Toronto started the post-Siakam era with a 121-97 win over the Miami Heat on Wednesday night, with Chris Boucher the only player left with the team that played on the 2018-19 championship squad.
It’s been a weird few seasons since in Toronto, with the team only having one playoff series victory to show since their 2019 title: a 2020 first-round win over the Brooklyn Nets.
And despite the lack of postseason success in recent years, the team’s president once again preached patience to the fan base to see the potential of their new roster.
“Toronto will win with or without me,” Ujiri said.
Toronto is back in action on Thursday when they host the Chicago Bulls. Tipoff is set for 4:30 pm PT/7:30 pm ET.