The Toronto Raptors have appeared in the playoffs for four consecutive seasons. This year, it looks like the team will make it five in a row, as they currently sit in the No. 2 spot in the Eastern Conference.
The Raptors have found that success thanks to their backcourt duo of Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan, who have been the stars on all of those playoff teams. This season DeRozan has emerged as Toronto’s top star, taking yet another step beyond just playing at an All-Star level. Lowry and DeRozan are now considered one of the best backcourt combinations in the East, but their journey to becoming that almost ended before it really got going.
In 2013, the Raptors appeared poised to blow things up. Masai Ujiri had taken over the operation and, after scuffling out of the gate, shipped Rudy Gay to Memphis, signaling the start of a rebuild. Lowry was next up to be traded and many reports pointed to the Knicks as the landing spot for the point guard. A deal was reportedly very close to getting done before New York backed down from the offer, and Lowry ended up staying in Toronto for the time being.
As DeRozan recalls, everyone in the locker room was prepared for things to get blown up and if Lowry went, he was going to ask out of Toronto as well. Derozan went on the Woj Pod with Adrian Wojnarowski this week and offered an honest remembrance of just how close he was to pushing his way out of Toronto five years ago had Lowry been dealt to the Knicks.
I remember that moment vividly, that whole season, because the start of the season I remember we set a goal out for ourselves of understanding, we kinda had a feel what would happen if things went wrong. We told ourselves we had 20 games to figure it out. We had 20 games, and we ended up 6-12 when we made the Rudy trade. When we traded Rudy, we were in L.A., I remember once that trade happened, I said, everybody get ready. I made this metaphor, I’ll never forget, ‘We got two options, either sink or swim. And either we gonna be Michael Phelps or ankle weights on our ankles, sinking.’
I remember Kyle, a couple days later, Kyle was practically gone. I remember Kyle came into the locker room and said it was nice playing with you, I’m outta here. I’m done. I’m going to New York. I remember my frustration came in too. I was like, ‘I don’t wanna go through this again. I don’t want to be one of them players that never make the playoffs, man if you’re getting traded I’m going to ask for a trade too. I’m asking for a trade too.’ And I remember we won some big game, win another game, a couple days went by and we just said, let’s give it all until somebody gets traded. Next thing you know we went on a week-long run, I think we only lost to San Antonio on the west coast swing. We went to Oklahoma and beat Oklahoma City. We was beating some pretty good teams and after that we just took off and ran with it.
As it turns out, the Raptors not being able to get New York to go through with a Lowry trade ended up being a blessing in disguise as it led to the best run of success the franchise has ever seen. Toronto has reached the conference finals and conference semis the last two years and look primed for at least another potential postseason run this season. This run was almost yet another rebuilding phase in Canada, but considering the support they’ve gotten over this stretch, it seems like it was for the best they rode things out with this core.
