When it comes to the history of the Toronto Raptors, the 'what-if?' factor always seems to come into play — more often than not at the expense of the Canadian franchise.
But on a winter night in 2013, following a 106-94 win over the Los Angeles Lakers, the Raptors finally found themselves on the right side of fate, as a deal fell through that would have perhaps changed the team for the worse for years to come.
The Raptors held on to Kyle Lowry.
Just 18 games into the 2013-14 season, the Raptors found themselves with a 6-12 record and in dire need of a change. They had missed the last five post-seasons and the trio of DeMar DeRozan, Kyle Lowry and Rudy Gay wasn't nearly enough.
"We were really trying to start looking at the possibility of tearing it down," team president Masai Ujiri said in the latest episode of "Raptors Delight," a Sportsnet documentary about the rise of the franchise.
Raptors Delight documentary on Sportsnet
Raptors Delight: Part 3 focuses on the re-birth of the Toronto Raptors, from Chris Bosh's move to South Beach to the We The North era with Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan, as told through the lens of those involved. Check out the third episode of the documentary, airing Feb. 23.
Broadcast schedule
That process began on Dec. 9 — the day after that Lakers game — with a deal that sent Rudy Gay to the Sacramento Kings, less than a year after the Raptors traded for him in the first place.
With one piece of the puzzle out the door, and a new president and general manager in Masai Ujiri and Bobby Webster running things, the old guard around the Raptors felt as though they could be up next as a full-on tear-down loomed.
“Me, Kyle, we made up our minds that we were kinda next. We both had in our mind that we were gone," DeRozan told Sportsnet. "It was understood, when we get off this trip, when we go back home, the deal is in place to have Kyle traded, me traded."
Though a DeRozan trade never seemed close to materializing back in 2013, a deal that would send Lowry to the Knicks felt almost like a certainty, as the Carmelo Anthony-led squad was desperate to pair the 29-year-old with another star.
At that point in the season, the Knicks were 5-14 — somehow worse than the Raptors — and had a struggling Raymond Felton running the point. Lowry, meanwhile, was finally starting to come into his own at 27 years old and was averaging 14.3 points, 6.6 assists and 1.7 steals 18 games into the year. He felt like the kind of hungry player the Knicks needed in a lost locker room.
Adding fuel to the fire was the top prize in the 2014 NBA Draft — Canadian phenom Andrew Wiggins — who the Raptors could've been in prime position to tank for had they kicked the tires on the rebuild early on in the season.
“I had called my boys like, ‘Yo, I need you to come meet me in New York. I’m about to get traded, I’m about to get in the plane,’" Lowry explained to Sportsnet. "I had two duffel bags sitting there, waiting for the call to say what your flight number is.”
It never came. Instead, he got a call from the Raptors telling him that the deal was not going through. That he would continue representing the red and white for the time being.
Why did it never come to be? Well, the answer could be found in two trades that came before.
In 2011, while still working as the GM of the Denver Nuggets, Ujiri swung a blockbuster three-team deal that sent an expiring Anthony to the Knicks in return for a haul that included Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton and a 2016 first-rounder that would later become Kitchener, Ont., native Jamal Murray. At the time, though Anthony's talent was apparent, the deal was considered a win for Ujiri and the Nuggets.
Then, as his first major move leading the Raptors in 2013, he traded former first-overall pick Andrea Bargnani to the Knicks for salary-filler and a 2016 first-rounder that would later become Jakob Poeltl — some tidy business for a player who would be out of the league by 2016.
"(Knicks owner) James Dolan comes in and says, 'Look, I'm not doing this deal because Masai Ujiri is on the other end of the phone. I don't want to look like an idiot,'" Sportsnet's Michael Grange said on "Raptors Delight."
Even when a deal doesn't go through, Ujiri seems to have managed to get the best of Dolan and the Knicks.
As history has proven, the Knicks' cold feet in early December 2013 went on to define the near and distant future of the Raptors.
After starting the 2013-14 season 6-12, the Raptors took that win over the Lakers on Dec. 8 and parlayed it into victories in nine of their next 12 games, including back-to-back wins over the Knicks just before the new year.
Toronto went on to finish the regular season with a 48-34 record — its best in franchise history up to that point — to take first place in the Atlantic Division and make the playoffs for the first time since the 2007-08 campaign.
“The whole team just changed," DeRozan said about the trade that never was and the switch that seemed to flip soon after. "We kinda formed an identity.”
With Lowry at the helm, torturing fans in Madison Square Garden instead of playing for them, the Raptors' fate was sealed, as they booked playoff spots for the next six seasons and came away with their storied title in 2019.
What could've been had Dolan not gotten in the way? Where the Raptors end up with Lowry, and where Lowry ends up without the Raptors is anyone's guess. Sometimes things are simply meant to be.
The third episode of "Raptors Delight," titled The Re-birth, will air on Feb. 23, following the Raptors' game against the Phoenix Suns on Sportsnet One.
COMMENTS
When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.