DeMar DeRozan is the best player to ever wear a Toronto Raptors uniform.

There.

It’s been said.

With all due respect to Vince Carter — and it is impossible to minimize his impact on the franchise, the city, the country and the sport — DeRozan has become as important, as good and vastly more successful, and should now stand atop the pantheon.

No. 10 is No. 1.

Now, there are so many nuances to the question and so many layers to take into account that there actually is no right or wrong or definitive answer, and everyone should be fine with that. But because DeRozan has been doing what he’s been doing for the last two weeks in particular — including a franchise-record 52-point performance in a win over the Milwaukee Bucks on New Year’s Day — after elevating his game for the last season and a half, the discussion of where he fits has raged among fans and around the league.

The declarative statement of his ascent to the top will certainly spawn debate, as it should, but having watched them both and seen their impact here and league-wide, DeRozan’s emergence is undeniable.

Now it is time to anoint him at the best to play for Toronto in the almost quarter of a century the franchise has been around.

“He’s the face of the Raptors, and rightfully so,” coach Dwane Casey was saying Friday in Milwaukee. “He’s a quality man. He represents the Raptors, he’s proud to be a Toronto Raptor and that says a lot for him. And he carries himself the right way.”

That would the tipping point in the debate from this angle.

Crunch the numbers all you want and you can make a case for either one as “the best,” even if the 28-year-old DeRozan has had a more sustained period of success than Carter ever did. You can fold, spindle and twist numbers any which way. Take PER and Effective Field Goal Percentage and scoring average, usage rates — whichever defensive metrics turn your crank — and there’s no doubt a case can be made for both.

But that’s for mathematicians and the analytics crowd. Like all of the number-crunching it is an important part of the debate, but it is just that: a part, not the be-all and end-all.

Talking about the greatest ever has to go deeper, into personalities and impact on and off the court.

DeRozan vs. Carter probably just comes down to personal preference and which style is more significant and important to each individual. They could not have been more different when viewed from up close.

Carter was a supernova; DeRozan’s ascent has been far less flashy, but nonetheless just as impressive.

Carter was dunks and jaw-dropping athleticism, the likes of which fans had seldom seen; DeRozan was fundamentals and incremental improvement every summer, such as ball-handling and passing and developing a deadly mid-range game.

Carter was sexy, stunning; DeRozan is constant, reassuring.

It’s a bit like well done versus medium rare: to each their own.

“You’ve got to go to bat with your strengths,” DeRozan told NBA.com. “I grew up watching old-school basketball and I came into the league like that.

“A lot of these young guys are watching the league in a whole different dynamic than what I did. It just comes with the times.”

The case can be made — and it has been in private conversations for quite some time — that Carter was the most “important” player the franchise has ever employed, but that DeRozan has become “better” because of the heights to which he has propelled his team. But really, isn’t DeRozan just as important in the grand scheme of things?

Carter unquestionably made the team relevant when he exploded in the early 2000s as a “half-man, half-amazing” global phenomenon. DeRozan himself was caught up in the fury, waking early on Sunday mornings in Los Angeles to watch Carter and his team from a faraway place.

What DeRozan has done — in much the same way his game differs from Carter’s — is just as important, but far less glamorous.

He took a team that was struggling and made it good and a league-wide factor. There is no debating the teams he has led have been more successful than any Carter played for in Toronto, and isn’t that just as important?

“Offensively, he’s setting (franchise) records and doing things and, team-wise, helping produce wins,” Casey said. “I think that’s the most important thing of all. He could be putting up big numbers on a bad team, but he’s putting up big numbers and in the process we’re contending to win a conference title.”

DeRozan has grown from a painfully quiet teenager plucked from Compton, Calif., to work in a foreign land far removed from his comfort zone into the confident, well-spoken, mature father of two he is today, and it has been an amazing transformation to watch.

He has accepted responsibility for his talent and his place in franchise lore in a way Carter never did, and that has to be a major part of the discussion.

Being able to handle what’s thrust at you each day is a large part of what goes into becoming the best. Some players shy away from it. Some handle it well, others poorly. Again, the difference between DeRozan and Carter is significant.

DeRozan is “I am Toronto” and playfully boasted “Don’t worry, I got us” when he was given the keys to the franchise.

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Carter could be standoffish when he was making the Raptors globally relevant. Oh, he talked to the media every day — shootaround, pre-game, post-game, after practice without fail — but there was a sense he didn’t really like it.

Today, Carter is a far different man — more mature, more comfortable with his place in the game, more accepting of the responsibility thrust upon him — but much of that came long after he’d left Toronto.

Carter is an NBA icon in many regards, but he became one elsewhere.

DeRozan is the same way and he’s still in Toronto. He’s not a 40-year-old with hall of fame credentials, but he knows who he is and what he means to fans and the franchise, and he’s handled it with grace and humility every step of the way.

His on-court skills are undeniable — “I have been with him now for six years and he has had some great runs. This is one of the more impressive runs that I have seen,” all-star guard Kyle Lowry said the other day — and his reputation in the league is unblemished. He is headed to his fourth all-star appearance, would be in the top-five discussion for league MVP if voting was held today, and will unquestionably get consideration for an all-NBA team nod when the season is over.

Maybe Raptors fans shouldn’t bother with the question of “Who’s better? Who’s best?” Maybe they should just appreciate each for what they did when they were here, and the joy and excitement they provided. But the times in which we live demand hot takes and bold statements and declarations.

DeMar DeRozan is the best player to ever wear a Toronto Raptors uniform.

There.

It’s been said.

The best of DeRozan (so far)

Some memorable and pivotal moments in the career of Raptors all-star DeMar DeRozan:

June 28, 2010

Coming off a good — but not spectacular — rookie season, DeRozan was about to become the new face of the franchise with Chris Bosh headed for the Miami Heat. DeRozan brashly took control, tweeting: “Don’t worry, I got us.”

May 1, 2016

The first is always the sweetest and Toronto’s Game 7 win over the Indiana Pacers, marking the first time a Raptors team had ever won a best-of-seven playoff series, was a DeRozan moment. He took 32 shots, scored 30 points and iced the game at the free-throw line with six seconds left: “I don’t care if he shot 40 times, he emptied that clip and we won and that’s all that matters,” Kyle Lowry said of his teammate.

July 14, 2016

If he hadn’t already done enough to prove his loyalty to the only NBA organization he’s ever played for, DeRozan made a further commitment by blowing off meetings with all other teams before signing a four-year contract worth about $140 million U.S.: “I put my blood, sweat and tears into this organization and I’m not done yet.”

Jan. 1, 2018

DeRozan holds practically every significant offensive franchise record and added the biggest one of all when he scored 52 points in a New Year’s Day overtime win over Milwaukee. He made 17 field goals, including five three-pointers, and all 13 of his free throws: “You look up, you going to halftime, you may glance at it and say ‘Damn, I got X amount of points.’ You just feed off of that and understand it’s nothing but aggressiveness and going out there and wanting to win.”

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