[Smith] According to a source close to the beloved former Toronto all-star, DeRozan would welcome a Raptors return “if everything works out,” while other sources say the Raptors front office has been thinking about the possibility for some time…the sides have spoken…
It would be a sentimentalist’s dream and there is interest on both sides to try and make it work, but the chances of the Raptors repatriating DeMar DeRozan seem faint at best.
According to a source close to the beloved former Toronto all-star, DeRozan would welcome a Raptors return “if everything works out,” while other sources — also granted anonymity in order to speak freely on the subject — say the Raptors front office has been thinking about the possibility for some time.
The potential role may be the biggest hurdle. DeRozan would be a backup for the first time in Toronto, and while people who know him have been working on him to accept it, it’d be a major career shift. And because he’s so close to cracking the top 10 on the NBA career scoring list (about 2,000 points away), not starting — or not even having a featured scoring role off the bench — would put a crimp in the pursuit of a truly memorable accomplishment. He’s enough of a team player to do whatever is needed to win, but the change would take some adjustment.
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Whether the Raptors could even create a roster spot is also a question. They are tight against one of the salary-cap aprons that would trigger limits on what they can do if they reach it, and the team may want to keep one slot open going into September’s training camp, maybe into the regular season.
…But the sides have spoken (directly and through back channels) and there’s still a lot of the summer to go, so it’s not an entirely dead issue.
Drake about to take a bigger L than he did against Kendrick?