What Happened To The 2019 Toronto Raptors
The 2019 Toronto Raptors may have one of the most unpredictable championships in NBA history they got rid of their franchise pillars for a one-year Superstar rental they won the finals against one of the most stacked teams in all of sports and then never made it back with a proven superstar in Kawai
Leonard young talent in Fred Van VY ogan anobi and Pascal sakam and veterans in Mar assol and sergy Baka all with a rookie head coach coming off of a finals Victory Toronto had figured out the formula to put the league on notice but 5 years later Toronto has twice failed
To make the playoffs and have never returned to the Eastern Conference Finals so let’s see where all the pieces went and see what happened to the 2019 Toronto Raptors let’s kick this off with one of the most important pieces of the roster kawhai Leonard the man who came
In played one season won a championship and then left even before he ever put on a Toronto Jersey Kawhi was rumored to want to go to LA when he was a member of the San Antonio Spurs and the leading rumor was that he wanted to be traded to
The Lakers and then for LeBron James to follow him there reportedly has spent a long time weighing between reigning and going home but his mind was made up when news of Paul George being traded to the Clippers broke the two had reportedly discussed a pairing earlier that season
And it’s reasonable to believe that if George wasn’t traded to the Clippers kawhai may have stayed in Toronto his first two seasons in La would see a new super steam with a semi-finals and Conference Finals of appearance however Kawhi would tear his ACL in game four of the 2021 Western Conference semi-finals
He would then sit out the next season before returning from injury and during that time Leonard was slow to come back putting up substandard stats as well as missing plenty of games due to load management slowly but surely he would return to his normal NBA self and right
Now the claw is averaging 246 and4 on what is arguably the best team in the NBA dominating the regular season isn’t anything new for this Clippers team injury have held him back for the first five seasons and if kawhai can stay healthy we might just see him win his
Third ring and Kawhi Leonard is not the only 2019 champion on the Clippers also joining him is one of the strongest players in the league to come off the bench Norman Powell Powell was the team’s Sixth Man for the 2019 finals run however his last two years in Toronto
Would see him become the primary shooting guard after Danny Green left in free agency the 2020 season saw him double his scoring per game on a similar efficiency starting in 26 Games The Following Season he was scoring nearly 20 points per night but the 2021 Raptors were seeing very little success overall
And wanted to take the franchise in a New Direction Powell was traded to Portland for Gary Trent Jr Trent Jr being a younger cheaper player who had a similar enough skill set to Powell in Portland Norman remained a solid complimentary piece alongside Damen Lillard he earned himself a 5-year $90
Million contract in August of 2021 but Powell wouldn’t be able to celebrate for long as he was traded later that season he along with Robert cumington were traded to the Los Angeles Clippers for Eric Bledel Justice Winslow and Keon Johnson the Blazers felt confident in the direction of the franchise with
Anthony Simons in the words of blazers GM Joe Cronin they cited cap flexibility as a primary reason for the Powell trade in the most recent two seasons Norman Powell has been an important rotational piece for the Clippers with his first full season in La see him finish a
Fourth in Sixth Man of the Year voting and there’s still one more player from this championship team who found themselves on the LA Clippers that would be Serge Ibaka Ibaka would stay in Toronto for one more season following the 2019 Championship but in the 2020 off season he and the Raptors would not
See eye to eye the club had felt satisfied with their big men being Aaron Baines Alex Lynn and Chris bue Toronto also had felt that Ibaka Who would be turning 31 years old that season was not worth the money that he wanted this would be a critical loss to their
Championship core Ibaka was the epitome of a modern big men he was solid at stretching the floor while being a good down low Defender and rebounder without being like other unathletic slower big men Ibaka’s two seasons in La saw him playing a smaller role and playing less
Minutes as his stats fell across the board in February of 2022 he was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks in Milwaukee he would play for two seasons playing Just 35 games averaging six points per game Ibaka would shortly then leave the buck citing a lack of communication with the
Team mostly stemming from not knowing his role in the front office giving him a different expectation than what was that on the court the 34-year-old is now playing in Germany in the Euro league maybe just hoping for one more chance in the NBA Ibaka isn’t the only member of
This team who has found themselves playing overseas either at 34 years old Mark Gasol was an important member of the Toronto championship team he started just 26 games in the regular season as he came in Midway for yonas valunas gasal would start in the majority of his
Games and he demonstrated himself as an excellent floor spacer passer and down low Defender at 35 years old he exercised a $26 million playing option and would go on to play 44 games in the 2020 season but it was apparent that Gasol was reaching towards the end of
His NBA career he contemplated returning to Spain before taking a much smaller role with the LA Lakers who’ play in just 52 games scoring five points per game before his last game in the NBA gazal would play for a team he founded in Spain for a few seasons before retiring from professional basketball
This January MAR gasal saw plenty of success both in the NBA and in Europe today he remains as one of the best players to ever come out of Spain and while he may not be with his brother in the Hall of Fame he is certainly a Spanish American basketball legend also
Overseas is Malcolm Miller Miller was in Toronto for 3 years with 2020 being his last season he played in just 53 games in his NBA career and after his time in Toronto he would bounce between the Utah Jazz farm team and the Italian basketball Federation currently the
Former NBA champion is playing in the Italian second tier basketball league and there is still one more player on this team that is recognizable overseas and that is Jeremy Lynn Lynn’s last year in the NBA would be that 2019 season where he became the first Asian-American and the first Harvard graduate to win
The NBA Finals the following off season Jeremy Lynn chose to play in China opting over Russia Israel and the Euro league he would be named an All-Star and nearly one Defensive Player of the year The Following Season he would try to return to the NBA through the Santa Cruz
Warriors he’d be one of the first veterans to sign to a g-league roster and through this the G League’s veteran exception rule became dubbed the Jeremy Lynn rule Lynn would then go back to China for two seasons before signing with the Taiwanese Basketball Association where he is still playing
Today like Lynn Patrick mcau and Jody Meeks are no longer playing in the NBA Patrick maau would play sparse minutes for the next year and suffered a knee injury in the 2021 season right now Patrick mcau is currently on the Delaware Blue coats the 76ers g-league team Jodi Meeks only played eight games
For the championship team in 2019 would be his last season in the NBA most recently he was waved by the Raptors g-league team in 2022 and announced his retirement from basketball last season obviously these guys were not a part of the core or even played significant
Minutes for Toronto but one guy who did play significant minutes for only one season was Danny Green Green made his Mark averaging 10 points per game starting in 80 games following their Championship he signed with the LA Lakers for a 2-year $30 million deal again he would only spend one year on
That team playing a valuable role winning the 2020 NBA championship following that ring green was traded to the 76ers for the Lakers to receive Dennis Schroeder green then played in Philadelphia for 2 years before tearing his ACL in the playoffs green was again traded during the 2022 NBA draft to
Memphis for DeAnthony Melton he played just three games in Memphis before before being again traded to the Rockets where he would be bought out of his contract last year he played just eight games with the Cleveland Cavaliers before signing another contract with the Philadelphia 76ers and he was most
Recently cut this November green is now a free agent and is yet to announce his retirement from basketball but given that he has played Just 13 games in the last two seasons I would not be surprised to hear that his NBA career is done playing in the NBA for 14 years and
Winning three championships is certainly not too bad of a career and of course when we’re talking about the core of the Raptors we cannot forget about the man at the helm Nick nurse nurse originally came into the position after the team fired Dwayne Casey his first season as
Head coach would see them win the NBA Finals making Nick nurse the first coach in NBA history to win the finals as well as the g-league title following the departure of Kawhi Leonard the Raptors went 53 and 19 nurse was named a head coach for the 2020 All-Star Game and won
Coach of the year they lost to the Boston Celtics in seven games but nurse was still awarded with a contract extension his last playoff appearance in Toronto would be in 2022 seeing the Raptors lose in the first round in April of 20123 the team fired Nick nurse after
They failed to make the playoffs and lost to the Chicago Bulls in the playin tournament this offseason nurse was hired by the 76ers and at the time that I make this Philadelphia sits around the fifth seed in the East and nurse isn’t the only Raptor who is currently on the
76ers as they had recently signed Kyle Lowry Lowry spent 9 years in Toronto becoming one of the most loved players in franchise history after winning the championship Kyle Lowry would make one more All-Star appearance and play for two more seasons in Toronto in August of 2021 he was traded for Goran dragic and
Precious atua as a part of the Toronto Raptors heading in a New Direction well Lowry did take a step back stats-wise at 35 years old he was a key starter on a 53- win Miami Heat team that took the Celtics to seven games in the 2022 Eastern Conference Finals and then last
Season the heat would finish as the eighth seed in the East but they would make the NBA Finals losing to five games against the Nuggets this season Kyle Larry was traded for Terry roier before being waved by the Charlotte Hornets recently he signed with Nick nurse in
The 76ers and and so far has only played in two games there were three more players who were both key to the championship and seemingly felt like the future of this Toronto team while the three were on the team last season they have all found themselves playing
Elsewhere today first is Fred Van v 20 saw van fleet’s first year as a full-time starter and he was rewarded with his excellent play signing a 4-year $85 million contract in November of 2020 the following two seasons saw van vet put up 19 and S and he earned his first
All-Star appearance in 2022 last offseason ven Fleet made himself a free agent by declining a player option while the Raptors had wanted to resign him the Houston Rockets emerged as more willing suitors paying him $120 million over three years it was an incredibly painful goodbye for both parties and despite
Making over $40 million this year V fleet has yet to return to the same averages we saw him at in Toronto both ogj and anobi and Pascal seaka made it to the opening day roster for the Raptors and anobi had emerge as one of the League’s best prospects following
The 2019 season he was an impactful perimeter Defender who is getting better on the offensive end every single year his best season saw him scoring 17 points per game on 58% true shooting percentage he was also second all team defense and finished seventh in Defensive Player of the Year voting
Going into this season OG was set to earn a big contract more than what the Raptors wanted to pay instead of losing him this off season they wanted to bring in younger Talent this December he was traded for RJ Barrett and Emanuel quickley OG has played strong in his 14
Games in New York his first 10 games saw him set a plus minus of 170 an NBA record for a player starting on a new team recently he had been sidelined with an injury with an expected return before these playoffs and the last player of this 2019 Raptor Squad is Pascal seak
Following the loss of Kawhi Leonard SE yakum emerged as the team’s best player he earned All-Star appearances in 2020 and 2023 with an all NBA team nod in 2022 like OG the Raptors did not want to pay the massive deal that se yakum was going to be owed a few weeks after the
Anobi trade Pascal siakam was traded to the Indiana Pacers for younger players and draft pick so far sakam has been great in Indiana his skill set pairs well with Tyrese and the Pacers are expected to make the playoffs with these two at the helm leading one of the most
Highest scoring offenses in NBA history the 2019 Raptors had an incredibly strong core it was a combination of guys on good contracts who love the team the city and the fans many of those who had left would go on to speak very highly of their time in Toronto and said that it
Wasn’t easy to leave the team it while it is a shame that they never worked out out Beyond a few seasons it is safe to say that this core had led to many special memories for Raptor fans while I and many others would have loved to see
What this team could have done if they had stayed and growed together possibly see a repeat championship appearance and hopefully against a noninjured Warriors team you could also argue that guys like sakam van vle and enobi would not become the players that they are now with a smaller role ultimately the early 2020s
Toronto Raptors teams are one of the biggest wh IFS in recent NBA history and while their core was made up of plenty of good maybe not great players you can still never take away from what they did in the 2019 season but guys this is what happened to the championship Raptors if
You made it this far thank you so much for watching if you like the video you know what to do and that is it for this one I will catch you guys later
The 2019 Toronto Raptors won one of the most unexpected championships in NBA history. But after the departure of Kawhi Leonard, the team was never the same. Today we look at what happened to the core of the championship winning, and the early 2020’s Raptors.
