Let’s kick things off with a spoiler: the Toronto Raptors didn’t land LaMarcus Aldridge in free agency this summer. Instead, the 30-year-old power forward returned to his home state of Texas, choosing to suit up for Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs.
To fans north of the border, the chances of the Raps landing the four-time all-star may have seemed slim at best. But in a new piece detailing Aldridge’s path through free agency, Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski writes that Masai Ujiri had a profound effect on the soon-to-be-Spur:
Aldridge met with the Toronto Raptors, whose general manager, Masai Ujiri, had Aldridge enraptured. He found himself intrigued with Ujiri’s vision of the entire country of Canada behind him, telling Yahoo, “There was a genuine spirit about [Ujiri] that made me more interested in Toronto.”
Ujiri lurked in the halls of the Montage for the next 48 hours, carefully crafting text messages to Aldridge, trying desperately to get him on a plane and come visit the city. Ujiri imagined the rapper Drake, a Raptors fan, summoning other fervent fans, packing Jurassic Park outside the Air Canada Centre and somehow willing themselves to a free-agent upset of upsets.
The piece also details an exchange between Aldridge, Ujiri and Popovich in which the San Antonio bench boss joked that after forking over $16-million a year to land DeMarre Carroll, Ujiri should be willing to part with $35-million per for LA’s services.
“If he could, he would,” Aldridge said with a laugh, a nod of respect toward the relentlessness of Ujiri’s pursuit.
Sure, the GM ultimately failed to lure Aldridge to Toronto—even for a visit—but the personal sway he held over such a marquee name, should be heartening for Raptors fans.