Toronto Raptors: Masai Ujiri has tough road ahead after Kawhi Leonard’s departure

Losing Kawhi Leonard certainly hurts the Toronto Raptors chances at repeating as NBA championship and now Masai Ujiri has to think about the next step.

Masai Ujiri has pulled off many franchise-altering moves during his tenure with the Toronto Raptors and now he has some tough choices to make with Kawhi Leonard returning home to play for the LA Clippers.

The Raptors knew the risk they took making the trade for Leonard considering all the talk about his desire to return to play in California. The team gave Kawhi every reason to stay proving they could handle the demands of a star player but they couldn’t contend with his desire to be in Southern California.

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Sure it is a disappointing development but one the Argos would have to deal with but now that it is actually happening fans are wondering, and with good reason, what becomes of the reigning NBA champions?

As it stands right now, the Raptors still have most of their roster intact minus Leonard and Danny Green. The team obviously knows the impact Kawhi had, he was the superstar player they needed to get them over the hump.

They don’t have many options in free agency but with the amount of money tied up to their core and were only willing to pay heavily into the luxury tax for Leonard. As Dave Zarum of Sportsnet writes that the team has over $90 million coming off the books with Kyle Lowry, Serge Ibaka, Marc Gasol and Fred VanVleet free agents next off-season.

Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby have been the main targets for opposing teams in any deal including the rumoured one for Paul George. Teams see the value in both of these young players but so does Ujiri.

What should give Raptors fans any confidence is knowing they have Masai running the ship. His reputation and ability to pull off deals should give the Raptors some hope that the team won’t fall back to its old ways.

People are pointing to Giannis Antetokounmpo being a target if he hits free agency and right now that seems like more of a hope and prayer rather than a plan. That doesn’t mean it won’t happen but you can’t make that the solution.

Considering the number of assets the Raptors have spent to compete for the past couple of seasons, it might be time to get some in return for the veterans on the roster. History has shown that you don’t need a lottery pick to win an NBA title considering Kawhi wasn’t a top-10 pick.

This is where the Raptors focus should be and while there’s no telling what the future has in store for Ujiri or even the team, they cannot let losing Kawhi discourage them and something tells us Masai won’t let it.