It required five postseasons with no name before Masai Ujiri had seen sufficient.
The Toronto Raptors had tapped out with DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry anchoring the backcourt. In five seasons out of 2013-14 into 2017-18, the Raptors won more regular-season matches than any other Eastern Conference team, but the Raptors saw more first-round exits than trips to the Eastern Conference finals, never reaching the NBA Finals.
And therefore, last July, Ujiri forced his move. The Raptors traded DeRozan — the top scorer in franchise history at the summit of his profession — along with Jakob Poeltl along with a top-20 shielded 2019 first-round pick to the San Antonio Spurs for Kawhi Leonard, Danny Green and cash considerations. The Lowry-DeRozan backcourt was broken up, the athlete of the Year Dwane Casey was let go after seven seasons, and also a new age in Toronto had started.
The outcomes have, so far, been positive. Despite Leonard missing about a quarter of this year, the Raptors currently have better championship chances than they did at this time last year. As such, the home run of Ujiri put the rest of the league on notice. If DeRozan is not safe, who is? The same as Miami’s Big Three sparked the era of player agency, the Raptors could have broken the seal for other perennial underachievers to follow suit.

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