There were a lot of high expectations surrounding the Toronto Raptors heading into the NBA playoffs as they went into the postseason as the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. However, the Raptors saw their season a lot earlier than everyone expected as they were swept by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the semifinals for the second consecutive season.
Shortly after the team’s early exit from the playoffs, head coach Dwane Casey was relieved of his duties after spending the past seven years with the team as the front office decided it was time to move on.
On Tuesday night, NBA Insider Adrian Wojnarowski mentioned on ESPN why no one on the Toronto Raptors is considered untouchable when it comes to the way Masai Ujiri operates.
“One thing about Masai Ujiri: He has never been afraid to talk about his star players in trade talks,” Wojnarowski said. “He’s not going to tell you anybody’s untouchable, and teams around the league know that. So they’ll talk about almost anything with this roster.”
This isn’t Wojnarowski saying the Toronto Raptors are going to move Kyle Lowry or DeMar DeRozan in the offseason, but he’s definitely letting Raps fans and the rest of the NBA know that a shakeup in Toronto isn’t exactly out of the picture, especially the way their season has ended the past two years.
A few weeks ago, Marc Stein reported in the New York Times that the Raptors explored trade options for DeRozan last summer, but never came across anything that was worth it.
The Raptors are still in search of a head coach, but once that position gets filled expect Ujiri to put the rest of his time and energy into improving the team’s roster for next season so they don’t run into the same issue for a third straight year.
(H/T Adrian Wojnarowski)
