The Toronto Raptors were frontrunners to land superstar point guard Damian Lillard; however, the Milwaukee Bucks ended up landing him instead. Ben Rogers breaks down the real reason as to why the Raptors couldn’t land the All-NBA guard and some of the packages Masai Ujiri was offering.
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43 Comments
LMFAO. Realistically think Raptors got close in trading for Dame without even OG Anunoby on the table? That's silly, can't even come close to Dame money without OG. Trade centered around Trent jr? You forgot Portland traded Trent Jr to Toronto, why would they want his expiring contract back for their best player? How dumb is that?
@benrogers David Thorpe podcast was right, when masai does a deal, you dont hear about until its done. if you having leaks the chance of that trade coming true decreases alot.
Og will leave next year mark my fucking words. Masai needs to be fired this is the last straw. 🤡 shit
You kinda can’t blame Masai. If we did keep Og and got dame we are the favs to win
Starting line up of: dame,og,Scottie,pascal yak would be godly.
boooo lol. damn..masai is starting to lose his touch
Cant believe we didnt trade OG. As much as i love him not everyone can have an extended role with the ball on offence. Scottie taking on more PG responsibilities along with already having a playmaking siakim, We didnt need OG to also demand more offensive responsiblity. Dame-trent-Barnes-Siakim-Portltl would of been an elite squad. Wont lie had we pulled off a deal without OG included as well, Masai would need his statue built this season. Now where back in this limbo fase. Again why we went all in last year made no sense to me, and we can forget about Giannis 2025-26 or whenever this guy a free agent. The ship has sailed, the dream combo of lillard and giannis will happen in milwakee. For all the hate the us media gave toronto for being cold, well milwakee is even colder. I guess there satisfied tho because atleast he still in the US. SMH was looking forward to the FU moment and flipping the bird to the us media while dame was winning chips in Canada.
I’m at the same spot. The best bet is to cash in on the assets and move forward with a younger core. Trade pascal, keep Og. Move forward with a younger core
Fine don’t trade our core but that means you HAVE to pay them! For me Gary and PS have to sign now or I’m going to trade them now or as soon as a decent trade can be made. We can be hostage with 3 guys next year. OG will be enough of a work.
Either Siakam or OG gotta go. OG is not a SG I don't care if he's used like one, Barnes basically does the same thing as Siakam but with the defence of OG. Lots of teams have expressed interest in OG so I think it makes sense to move him for picks and or guard depth.
Looks good on dame going to Milwaukee Wisconsin hahahahhaah oh my god. That’s hilarious. One of the worst markets in the nba. Most boring night life EVER. Toronto is top 5 night life
I like us over the field as is. Let's get it
The Raptors are going to lose OG Anunoby for nothing, he did the same thing with fred who went to Houston OG isn't resigning there.
I'm fed up with this team. Barnes is not a PG. OG is not a SG. Just garbage
Let's not forget that Lillard wouldn't have given 100% if he would've been dealt to the Raptors. We've got good players it's the coaching I'm worried about.. In the end Ii think this is all for the best. Great reporting as always Ben! Thanks!
Damian would have demanded a trade by the deadline
Masai is going to let Trent Siakim and OG leave for nothing
The Raptors will be irrelevant in the east again
Portland is actually north of Toronto, but whatever. Glad this nonsense is over. Raps will be decent this year.
Does noone realize of 7 of 8 playoffs lilliards been in hes been swept or nearly swept(1W-4L)…proven scorer not proven winner….cjm was the one that helped them get to CF that one time
Give me a freaking break. Lillard has said he never wanted to come to Toronto. So do all other superstars. Wtf were the Raptors were going after him? Dream on.
It's time for the President and GM to go
FVBrick… 🤮 🤮 🤮
Is the African connection clouding Ujuri’s decision making
OG can’t dribble. Period. His game is hot and cold. Not a superstar by any means.
Listen, I frigen love OG. But Dame is a top 75 player. OG is not going to thrive in our system like he would have in Portland. OG, Pascal and Barnes all play the same damn style. We needed a fucking point god and dame was it. We're holding onto these guys like they're superstars… they're NOT. OG has been in Toronto since 2016 and he's improved a little bit each year. I personally belive Masai and Bobby hold these guys to high standards which they aren't delivering up to during the season … we've SEEN it the past three years without Kyle… they need a SOLID point guard like Dame.
Woohoo. Lillard can take his wife out on a Milwaukee Friday night to watch the brewery smoke stacks.
Once again we are BARELY contenders with Dame. We are leveraging our entire future to be high tier mid for 3 years 🤦♂️It’s a different story if we were 2nd rnd exits that were a piece away, we are not.
As much as im always tempted to toss my Masai kool aid but this time around i give hom a pass AND a pat on the back. No matter how much he is a win guy he is more a character guy than that. Dame did not fit the culture. He dont want someone thwt threatened his team with making it a living hell if he traded to Raps (paraphrased). And he set up for development with darko and his staff.
Satisfied with not moving Dame now get some extensions signed!
But thinking he gonna wait it out till trade deadline to see if Pascal will sign extension. Or if Pascal, og AND gtj try to pull a solo style with the new coach to up their FA values. Sigh…
Just happy this bs gameshow round of "know who the raps COULD sign but NEVER will?" Is over.
Moving ooooooon….
I, was not questioning anything I knew the Taps were being used as leverage from the get go. Plus Mashai said at his pressed he only wants people that want to be here. Why do we believe everything the puppet media puts out.
Now the Raptors have to overpay OG, Pascal and Gary or they will walk away
US players listen to the American media too much
33 yr old that's getting 40m and 65m in a couple yrs??? Na I am sure we dodged a bullet. Trade precious and Flynn for Jrue now. Masai playing the game of thrones trying to find who's leaking
the roster is no where near as strong as it was in 2018/2019 when trading a high calibre player like DeRozen wouldn’t have ruined an entire season if Leonard decided not to play. Adding Dame would make the Raps a mid-level playoff team but not a championship contender. They lost to a garbage Bulls team in the play-in and that would’ve been Dame’s supporting cast. I’m glad Masai got turned down. The Raps are 4 years or more before they can become contenders again
Grange don’t know sh..!!!
Fire Masai. Enough is enough
I hate the front office so much
Masai and co just lost any and all credibility for letting this one slip away we would've still been fine defensively without him and dame would've made us a contender rather than stay in mediocrity probably miss the playoffs again with no fucking pick what a fucking joke I'm calling it now FIRE HIM and anyone else who refused to give up og!!!
You obviously didn’t read what I won’t. Trent Jr was the only obvious offer.
All the GM's in the NBA are playing chess and Masai is playing checkers. He's a joke
Didn't really believe it all until the last few days but not surprised he didn't land here. Two expiring contracts for Lillard doesn't work. The Bucks , yeah that's a bit of a surprise but not a shock because it makes sense. Portland fights for a playin spot, pheonix gets a bench.
Raptors fight for a play in spot, but I'd rather not. Scottie gets a year older, further complicating the team timeline.
Grange is a subject matter moron. Freddy is still writing his material.
The raptors gotta be delusional how can u not give up og for Dame
The report is BS. How would the raptors even match salaries without OG, Pascal or Barnes