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This team Leon Rose built is the NBA's first to win the Larry O’Brien Trophy and NBA Cup double in the same season. It just beat the Spurs four times in five tries despite spotting a double-digit lead to San Antonio in the first quarter of all five games. And it joins only Toronto in 2018-19, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, as NBA champions with four starters acquired via trade. These Knicks and those Raptors are also the league's only two teams, per Elias, to open a Finals-clinching game with five players it didn't draft.
Yet the more realistic outcome for Dallas remains hiring someone from within the NBA and, to that end, sources say that the Mavericks have either already registered official interest or plan to do so with a number of prominent assistant coaches. Those include Minnesota's Micah Nori, Houston's Royal Ivey, Toronto's Jama Mahlalela, Boston's Tony Dobbins and Miami consultant Noah LaRoche.
Keerthika Uthayakumar: The NBA will have a different NBA champion for 8th straight season, extending the longest streak in league history. 2019 - Toronto 2020 - Los Angeles Lakers 2021 - Milwaukee 2022 - Golden State 2023 - Denver 2024 - Boston 2025 - Oklahoma City 2026 - New York/San Antonio
According to league sources, the Mavericks have expressed interest in adding Philadelphia’s Prosper Karangwa to their front office, and Toronto’s director of global scouting, Patrick Englebrecht, is also a candidate to reunite with Ujiri in Dallas after they worked together since the 2013-14 season.
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Darren Wolfson: "I just I've always come to the conclusion, if Rudy Gobert is playing 30 to 35 minutes a night, you're not winning a championship. I've thought that for years, I continue to think that, but he's an incredible floor raiser. Like if you're Charlotte, he would be great. If you're New Orleans, think about hiring defensive-minded head coach Jamal Mosley. What about New Orleans for Gobert? Toronto. They were good, but Jakob Poeltl, like no. Toronto's had interest in Gobert for a while. Chicago too, but I don't know exactly what Chicago's thinking, they just hired a new front office. But like you can trade Rudy Gobert."
That helps explain why so many Raptors fans were frustrated with Ujiri’s departure from Toronto last June. There were plenty of nits to pick with his post-championship stewardship of the franchise; however, they knew they would never find a lead executive who seemed to care as much as they did. And when you are owned by a corporate monolith, as so many NBA franchises are, that is no small thing. You don’t want it to feel like the executive’s decisions are governed by emotion, but you want to know that the emotion is there. “I have to look to the future because winning is what we have to do here,” Masai Ujiri said Tuesday when asked to evaluate the Luka Doncic trade. “And winning is a responsibility for me.”
William Lou: "I want to be here for the rest of my career, I don't ever want to leave. I don't have any problems openly saying that. "That's out of my control. I have done my part on the court this year, and I hope things work out that way." RJ Barrett speaking from the heart about wanting to be a Raptor forever
Danny Cunningham: #Cavs take down the Raptors 114-102. Jarrett Allen picked a good time to have the best playoff game of his career. He had 22 points and 19 rebounds. Mitchell had 22, Harden had 18 and Cleveland's dominant 2nd half sends them to the 2nd round. Game 1 is in Detroit on Tuesday.
Marc J. Spears: Cavs deejay trolling Toronto by playing Kendrick Lamar. There were also USA chants during the game.
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The Sixers’ Nick Nurse is widely believed to be under pressure too, meaning Sunday’s loss to Boston, which put them in a 3-1 hole, qualifies as a step in the wrong direction. The same can be said for Cleveland’s Kenny Atkinson, whose Cavs did the James Harden deal in February with the expectation that they would return to title-contender status but who, after falling 93-89 to Toronto on Sunday, are now tied 2-2 with the Raptors. Game 5 is in Cleveland on Wednesday.
Fred VanVleet: “So, the free agency was weird because, like, I knew I didn’t really want to go back to Toronto. They didn’t really want me back, but it was like, again, I had the relationship. So it’s like they kind of wanted to make sure they put a respectable offer down, but they came with the bulls*** first. So when Houston came with the real deal, this don’t nobody know it yet, soon as they said the number, my mind was made up. I don’t even give a f*** what nobody talking about. So now I was like, ‘All right, cool. So this is — this is — you got to work our way into it.’ Now you had official meetings and s*** like that. So I think that’s what was reported was the deal, but that was like before it actually happened. So then when I met with Toronto, they came with another deal like at the last minute like, ‘Yo, we going to offer you whatever we going to offer you.’ I’m like, ‘All right, bet.’ You know what I’m saying? But even my meeting with them was like they knew — you know, everybody in the room knew like this s*** over with. But it was just almost like just a formality, like we just doing this because this what we supposed to do. And then after that, my mind was made up and s***. We agreed to sign with Houston. But I think I was like the first deal that summer, so people was waiting to see where I was going to go, like how the free agency work. I was holding everybody up. But s***, I couldn’t sign that s*** fast enough.”
Fred VanVllet: “It was between Toronto and Indiana that summer. Indiana wanted me to play Orlando Summer League and Vegas Summer League, but I ain’t feel like doing that. So, Toronto said, ‘They got $50,000. You come to Summer League. If you get the 50, if you don’t make the team — if you make the team, we’ll get you a two-year deal.’ I’m like, ‘All right, bet. Boom. Let’s get it.’ And that was it. And I was in Toronto like the next day. Kyle Lowry and — Kyle was there. Cory Joseph and Delon Wright. That was the three. And so when I go to Summer League, Delon Wright tear his shoulder at Summer League. So boom, now I move up. Now I’m the third point guard. And s***, I just worked from there. I was in. That’s all I needed.”
