Ever since the Toronto Raptors were eliminated by the eventual NBA-champion Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals, the biggest talking point surrounding the team has been the status of free agent DeMar DeRozan.
Raptors head coach Dwane Casey joined Dean Blundell & Co. on Friday morning and may have let the cat out of the bag in terms of DeRozan’s future north of the border.
When asked about attracting potential free agents, Casey stressed the importance of any new player fitting in with the existing group in place. Included in that list of returning players was none other than DeRozan.
“We’ve got a lot of names on the board and things to talk about,” Casey said. “Again, it’s very important to find players that fit. You can go play fantasy basketball if you want to, but do those players fit our program, fit our team, fit with Kyle Lowry, fit with DeMar DeRozan when he comes back, Patrick Patterson, the core guys we have coming back? That was the biggest thing we had going into last year. Bismack Biyombo and Cory Joseph fit perfectly with our culture, the chemistry of our team.”
Blundell followed up on the comment, praising Casey for his optimistic way of thinking regarding one of the NBA’s top free agents.
“That’s a Freudian slip,” Casey said laughing.
While it has certainly not been confirmed that DeRozan will be returning to Toronto, all signs seem to point to the two-time all-star remaining in a Raptors uniform.
The day after Toronto was eliminated from the post-season, DeRozan expressed his desire to come back. Furthermore, general manager Masai Ujiri has gone on record and said the organization’s top goal is to retain the 26-year-old’s services.
DeRozan, who was recently named to the United States Olympic team, posted the best season of his career in 2015-16, averaging 23.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game on 45 per cent shooting.
He opted out of his contract earlier this month, and stands to earn a hefty raise from the $9.5 million had he exercised his player option. Instead, the Compton, Calif., native will likely command a max-level deal worth well upwards of $20 million per season.
Casey went on to discuss the Raptors’ draft results, praising both Jakob Poeltl and Pascal Siakam, the latter of whom the coach compared to former Toronto fan-favourite Amir Johnson. Casey also touched on the status of the beloved Biyombo, who is an unrestricted free agent as well.
You can listen to the full interview here.
