With 28 teams already off into their off-seasons, as they await for a new NBA champion between Thunder and Pacers, trade negotiations are already unfolding and lots of speculation surrounding them. On Sunday, news came around suggesting that the Raptors are ready to go full throttle to land a superstar.
According to NBA insiders, Toronto‘s team-building intentions moving forward are expected to go big or go home. On the latest episode of The Hoop Collective podcast, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst guaranteed that the Canadian franchise will take risks this summer.
“The Raptors are a team that is starting to make noise within the league about looking for a big fish,” the veteran reporter said. The news flooded the internet just as other sources reported that Giannis Antetokounmpo is “open-minded” to a move away from his beloved Milwaukee.
Windhorst then explained: “And, you know, I think because … if you’re an Eastern Conference team that’s in the middle of the pack, you’re looking at the teams in front of you going, ‘Some of them may not be able to come together, may be able to stay together.’”
The insider insists that many teams in the East and taken advantage over the fact that the Celtics might face a reconstruction, after losing to the Knicks in the semifinal rounds. “Boston is hurt, and so there are some teams that sniff the ability to make a move, and I think Toronto is one of those teams,” Brian shared.
Recently, both Raptors president Masai Ujiri and general manager Bobby Webster made clear that the “big fish” narrative is real, and became even more transparent now that the two-time MVP from the Bucks is shaking things up.
“And so naturally, any team that wants to make a move this summer, especially a team in the Eastern Conference, you’re going to have Giannis on the board,” Windhorst added. “But Toronto, I think, is going to try — from their initial conversations, teams in the league are getting the impression that Toronto is going to try to do something.”
