Developing a winning culture is one of the toughest tasks a franchise needs to address in order to bring fans to the seats, generate revenue, and eventually be an attractive destination for top-tier free agents.
Throughout history, some franchises have mightily struggled to build a winning culture and therefore, their stars wind up leaving when they have the chance to do so or even worse, wind up being traded away to start a rebuilding process.
The Toronto Raptors are a huge part of that list of franchises, and believe it or not, that’s taken a major toll on their game come playoff time. They’re not a winning franchise, they don’t believe they’re capable of going the distance and winning it all, and that’s why they can keep their stars. Today, we’ll let you know about the 4 Superstars the Raptors lost over the past 20 years.
4. Tracy McGrady
Tracy McGrady became an instant sensation in the league with his explosiveness and craftiness in the offensive end of the floor, but after the Raptors were beaten once again in the 1st round of the playoffs in 2000, the scorer decided to sign a 6 year 67.5 million deal with the Orlando Magic, mostly because he didn’t enjoy being the Robin to Vince Carter’s Batman.
Grady would go on to become one of the biggest superstars in the league during his prime and even though lack of playoff success and his proneness to get hurt, took a toll on his career, he’ll always go down as one of the most talented scorers this game has ever seen.
3. Vince Carter
When McGrady left the team, it was Carter’s time to prove that he was the ultimate leader of the Raptors and there was a time when he was one of the most impressive players to watch in the league due to his athleticism, emphatic poster dunks and offensive versatility, but he wasn’t able to find success with the team and didn’t even make it to the playoffs in the 2003-04 campaign.
So, following some altercations with the team’s president, Carter asked to be traded out of Canada after feeling “misled” and that the team would never be a contender under that management. Eventually, he’d be traded to the New Jersey Nets, where he’d make it to back-to-back Finals as one of the league’s biggest stars.
2. Chris Bosh
People tend to forget how good Chris Bosh was back in the day as the lone star in Toronto, as he even became the 3rd player in franchise history to make it to an All-Star game after Vince Carter and Antonio Davis. Bosh almost single-handedly led the team to the Playoffs following a huge roster overhaul before the 2006-07 campaign, but after the team failed to impress for 4 straight seasons, there weren’t many reasons why to stay put there.
Bosh would wind up completing a sign and trade with the Toronto Raptors to take his talents to the Miami Heat, where he’d create one of the deadliest “Big 3’s” in modern history alongside Dwyane Wade and LeBron James, winning a couple of NBA NBA Championships in back-to-back seasons.
1. DeMar DeRozan
And the latest superstar to be dealt away from the Toronto Raptors is DeMar DeRozan, who failed to take the team the distance during the playoffs and felt disrespected and betrayed by the franchise for trading him to the San Antonio Spurs to get a one-year rental for Kawhi Leonard.
DeRozan is an elite scorer but lacks the character to single-handedly lead a team to success, and that’s arguably the main reason why Toronto felt it was time to move on from him. Still, the Raptors are not an attractive destination for Kawhi Leonard and he’s just going to walk away for free at the end of the season, while DeRozan will be headed to one of the best franchises in the world.
