Ujiri says Raptors are still eyeing a trade for a superstar
The Toronto Raptors are once again preaching patience.
On Monday, the Raptors held their annual media day, with team president Masai Ujiri opening the festivities off answering a whole host of questions on the team’s offseason and outlook moving forward.
And while there was a wide array of topics discussed, one overarching theme loomed around Ujiri’s press conference: will he (and the rest of the team’s front office) be able to rebuild the team into contending status once again?
“We’ve had one losing season in the past ten years,” Ujiri said in a question asked by Daily Hive. “There’s no complacency here. I believe we’re going to win in this city again, just like I said before, you guys looked at me the same way and I believe that we’re gonna win again.”
After making the playoffs as a fifth seed in the 2021-22 campaign, Toronto is coming off a 41-41 year where they ultimately crashed out of the postseason race by way of a homecourt loss to the Chicago Bulls in the 9/10 play-in game.
Toronto made the playoffs in seven straight years from 2014-20, but has missed out in two of the last three years and has yet to win a playoff series since 2020.
This summer, the team underwent a few changes — signing point guard Dennis Schröder and forward Jalen McDaniels in free agency— but lost Fred VanVleet to the Houston Rockets after seven seasons with the franchise after signing as an undrafted free agent in 2016.
On paper, at least, the team seems poised to regress even further than last year’s slide — oddsmakers have them pegged as having a season-long over-under of 36.5 wins — with no clear answer of how they’re going to return to their winning ways that were a hallmark of the franchise throughout the 2010s.
The Raptors were one of the teams mentioned deep in the talks for star guard Damian Lillard before the seven-time All-Star was eventually sent from the Portland Trail Blazers to the Milwaukee Bucks as part of a three-team deal involving the Phoenix Suns.
But Ujiri is pushing the idea that the team remains interested in making a big move in the trade market, even if the Lillard possibility never came to fruition.
“Sometimes these things are sensationalized in a way that gets people a little bit too anxious…. we understand that we’re always going to put ourselves in opportunities, have it in the right place to have opportunity when these things come along… we believe in this city, we will continue to attack these [trade opportunities]… the right one will come. I think we’ve shown in the past that we can do that,” Ujiri added, perhaps referencing the team’s 2018 trade for star Kawhi Leonard that ultimately propelled the team to the 2019 NBA title.
Sportsnet’s Michael Grange reported that the Raptors weren’t willing to part with one of their remaining core players —Pascal Siakam, O.G. Anunoby, or Scottie Barnes — in a deal for Lillard.
“The right player is going to want to play here,” Ujiri added. “Hopefully, we either grow that or set ourselves up for that kind of opportunity.”
Toronto tips off their 2023-24 season on October 25 when they host the Minnesota Timberwolves.
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