For the first time in Raptors history, the team was actually in the driver’s seat as a potential seller at the NBA trade deadline. Yes, Toronto, as helmed by Masai Ujiri, has pulled off deadline deals before — remember Serge Ibaka, PJ Tucker, and Marc Gasol, for example — but they haven’t quite been in control like the were this past Thursday. The closest we can even come is back in 1998 when the Raptors made the disastrous sell-now Damon Stoudamire trade a week before the deadline. That day was not a good one for Toronto.
This made for a highly emotional afternoon.