Kawhi was back, the Raptors played a close game, there was even a Raptors HQ connection to the half time show — but the talk at Sunday’s game was all Luka Doncic.
Oh, the Toronto Raptors played today? It was hard to notice when THE MOST WILD TRADE IN NBA HISTORY HAPPENED OVERNIGHT.
We will get to the Raptors/Clippers game, but omg I need a minute to talk about Luka. Let me get my takes off. I was just about to get into bed when my phone starts absolutely buzzing off the wall with people thinking Shams got hacked because he tweeted that Luka was being traded. Turns out Shams was not hacked, and it was true.
Luka is a Laker, in the weirdest, most sketchy, cheapest deal in NBA history, probably.
Obviously, when I hauled my butt out of bed and into Scotiabank arena for a very early, 3:30pm tip-off today, this was all anyone could talk about. Darko said he had been sleeping when the news broke, but woke up this morning to a bunch of texts on his phone. He said it took him a minute to realize it was real.
Ty Lue was asked about Luka in his presser, but he just laughed, got up and walked out of the room. Everyone I spoke to started the conversation with “Wild about Luka, eh?” in the most Canadian way.
Here in Toronto, we are used to blockbuster trades — this team traded for Kawhi, after all. How ironic this happens while he is here.
Yet, the consensus among most people I spoke to was that this seems so incredibly off. Why was it just the Lakers involved? Why were the Dallas Mavericks SO concerned about Luka being a little out of shape — something easily remedied when you have access to the things an NBA team can provide for fitness training and nutrition? Why now, when Luka JUST led the Mavs to an NBA Finals series what, nine months ago?
According to Sportsnet’s Michael Grange, it seemed like the Mavs simply just did not want to pay Luka the $345 million dollars he could have made this summer.
It all seems fishy…
The show goes on though, because the Raptors had a game to play. While Kawhi played, Norm Powell was out, a disappointing blow for Toronto fans. Toronto continued their odd streak of leading one of the better teams in the league into the fourth quarter, making some groan at the idea of them winning ANOTHER game against a playoff contender when they probably shouldn’t have. The “morale wins” came, and not to be a tanker-downer, but… maybe it’s time to start losing again?
It almost feels like we are back into the wishy washy “are we rebuilding or not?” area. Like… do you want a chance at Cooper Flagg or not?
Going into the fourth quarter, the Raptors were up 15 points. Kawhi was only at 11, a rare off-game for the NBA champion and Finals MVP. With about five minutes to play, and still down about 15 points, Kawhi sat for the final time this game.
Weirdly enough, the Raptors maintained their double digit lead until the end of the game, winning over the Clippers.
What a confusing day in the NBA. Between the Raptors just like, winning a lot and then all this Luka trade nonsense, I don’t even know what to think.
The Raptors won 115-108, with RJ Barrett leading the way in scoring. He had 20 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists. Scottie Barnes had 15 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists. Gradey Dick scored 18 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist.
It was also a good Ochai Agbaji game where he scored 12 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 steal.
Anyway, WILD ABOUT LUKA EH?!