NEW YORK — The Lakers will be shopping this summer for a big swingman to replace Kobe Bryant, and that’s the start of why Raptors All-Star DeMar DeRozan keeps getting linked to his hometown team.
Some NBA coaches and GM’s think it’s already a done-deal, pointing to DeRozan’s Compton roots, his year at Southern California and, perhaps above all else, that the Lakers desperately need a veteran star to help accelerate their rebuilding process.
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But DeRozan, who in his seventh NBA season is now viewed as a bona fide No. 2-type star, isn’t going along with all of the Los Angeles talk.
“That ain’t me saying it,” he told Sporting News. “So I really don’t care. Honestly. It’s not me saying it. That’s coming from everywhere else. Everybody else is talking about that. I’m worried about one thing: putting on this Toronto Raptors jersey.”
The Raptors are justified if they’re a bit nervous about the prospect of DeRozan taking that jersey off, whenever their season ends, and slipping into the Lakers’ gold and purple. Why wouldn’t they be? The NBA is pushing Canada as a potential premier destination for free agents. But during the Raptors’ first 20 years, the franchise has seen its top three players bolt for the United States, resulting in only seven playoff appearances and just one trip out of the first round.
When you’ve seen Tracy McGrady and Chris Bosh leave via free agency — while Vince Carter, once the most popular player in franchise history, forced his way out of town via a trade to the Nets — it can’t be comforting to know that the clock is ticking on DeRozan. It’s why the most promising season in years really can’t be judged on whether the team finally breaks the 50-win plateau for the first time or on whether Dwane Casey can get his troops past the first round of the playoffs after back-to-back crushing losses to the Nets and Wizards, in 2014 and 2015.
When all is said and done, the Raptors will know if they’ve had a break-through season if they go deep in the playoffs and then get DeRozan’s signature on a new long-term deal.
“That sounds like a good plan to me,” Raptors GM Masai Ujiri told Sporting News. “DeMar has been part of the program of growing and what we’re trying to build here and the winning. For us, he’s part of our plan, 100 percent, 100 pecent, as he’s always been. Hopefully, it continues that way.”
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In one respect, Ujiri has the most difficult job of any NBA GM. No other executive has to constantly worry about an American player going home, even though Toronto is a world-class city with everything today’s players can ask for. For years, the Raptors had to deal with that anti-Canada mentality, as players such as Kenny Anderson and B.J. Armstrong refused to play for the Raptors.
“I was going to lose a lot of money if I went to Toronto,” Anderson said of his 1998 power-play that resulted in him instead going to Boston after his trade from Portland. “That was the deal-breaker, for sure. I knew other guys who didn’t want to go there because it’s not … here.”
The real toll on the franchise came when the best Raptors bolted. McGrady arrived fresh out of high school when he was 18 and just three years later ran home to Florida to join Grant Hill in Orlando. After seven seasons and only three playoff wins as the face of the franchise, Bosh saw a chance to win big with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade in Miami. His decision to become a third option resulted in four consecutive trips to the Finals and two rings. Wise move.
Then there was Air Canada, Carter, the high-flying slam-dunk champ who helped turn an entire generation of Canadian kids onto basketball. After experiencing modest success early in his Toronto career with a trip to the second round of the playoffs, he became a polarizing figure and pushed his way out as he questioned the organization’s ability to build a winner.
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So the big summer is quickly approaching because DeRozan is the latest test case. The Raptors are expected to offer him a five-year max salary starting at more than $25 million per year. The Lakers only can offer four years and slightly less per year, so the money is in the Raptors’ favor. But the lure of going home to play for one of the league’s marquee franchises, albeit with its brand taking a major hit the last couple of seasons due to all of the losing, is something they might not be able to overcome.
At least for now, the Raptors’ decisive edge over the Lakers is the winning. They’re the clear-cut second-best team in the East and on a pace to win 55 games. The Cavs are not the team everyone expected, even with LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love. So this could be the season the Raptors make a deep push in the playoffs, maybe even into June, with their veteran-laden roster that will soon get ace defender DeMarre Carroll back after knee surgery.
On a personal level, DeRozan gets to play with fellow All-Star Kyle Lowry, giving the team the top backcourt east of the Warriors’ Splash Brothers. Ujiri also thinks the stigma of playing in Canada, among elite players, is a thing of the past.
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“It’s changed now for this organization,” he said. “That’s all old talk. To me, all of that stuff doesn’t mean anything. I think players want to go to places where you win. That’s the bottom line. It’s very simple. If you want to keep players and if you want to attract players, you have to build a culture that players like and you have to win. You have to give them a platform so that they can be successful.”
The Raptors think they have that platform now. In July, they’ll know for sure.
