Kevin Durant was never coming to Toronto. Well, that’s not entirely true. There was a brief flicker a few years ago when he quietly signalled a willingness to keep the door open, just a crack. And then it closed.

In the end, there was no better option for the Raptors in free agency than DeMar DeRozan. If Durant wanted to come here, he would be here. They would send a private plane and give him anything he wanted. But this era’s premier scorer is entertaining offers in the Hamptons, king of whatever he deigns to survey.

DeRozan, however, has never gone away. The 26-year-old shooting guard has stayed a Raptor through the tough times, into the good times, and now he has signed the richest contract in Canadian sports history, thanks to the NBA’s summer of money. The Raptors met with DeRozan just after midnight eastern time in Los Angeles on July 1, their first opportunity, and he agreed to a five-year contract worth US$137.5-million. A full max deal, which are being handed out in this NBA like loot bags at a children’s party, would have run US$153-million.

This is not an unalloyed victory for the franchise. DeRozan has asked people up to and including LeBron James for tips on how to become a more efficient player, and he has done so, mostly by getting to the rim and the free-throw line more. But he is still a midrange gunner in a threes-and-drives game. His fearlessness is a blessing and a curse. In Game 7 against both Indiana and Miami, DeRozan carried the Raptors for stretches, but shot a combined 22-for-61. He is a volume scorer who is below average defensively. He is still improving. We’ve all covered this ground before.

But DeRozan loves this city and this franchise, and re-signing with the Raptors has not always been a sure thing. He has always spoken about his desire to do things his way. All season, the loudest screaming pulpit-holder at ESPN would bellow that DeRozan wanted to be a Laker, he wanted to go home, and it was just so much empty air, dissipating into the sky. DeRozan, at the end of the season and before, always made it clear.

“I never seen someone do something and said I want to do it that way,” DeRozan said at the end of the year, after the entire playoff opera was in the books. “I want to do it my way. For the longest time, there was no surpassing Vince (Carter), and in my head for the longest, I always told myself, I’m going to have an opportunity to be one of the greatest Raptors of all time, to do something that hasn’t been done yet, to do something that hasn’t been dreamed of.

“And for me, to be second all-time scoring, the most wins as a Raptor, that’s something — you might not see it now, but that’s a legacy. Unless you go there and win seven championships, there’s no overshadowing who played (with the Lakers) for 20 years. That’s that. My whole mindset has always been, what can I do here that’ll separate me from others? And maybe someday, somebody will say, I want to try to pass DeMar. I want to do what DeMar did.”

DeMar DeRozan believes in the Raptors, and given the franchise’s history, that is no small thing. He is loyal, and he is ours. He was never leaving, unless the Raptors left him first.

The Raptors have entered a new and fascinating phase as a franchise. They’re good, but the gap from good to great is a motorcycle jump over a canyon. They won 56 games and were two wins from an NBA final appearance, but Cleveland never took them too seriously. (Before Game 6, one Raptor pointed out that the Cavs thought Game 3 would be easy, still weren’t entirely focused on Game 4, and would likely bring far more to Game 6. He was right.)

So what now? There are still moving pieces, holes to fill. The Thunder did indeed ask for the moon for power forward Serge Ibaka: Cory Joseph, Norman Powell, Patrick Patterson, and the ninth pick in the draft. Ujiri is said to believe he can get Ibaka in free agency next year if he desires, but the big man’s flatlining rebounding and shot-blocking indicate he may not be the player he once was. Maybe Danilo Gallinari, Denver’s shooting forward, works. Talks for Philadelphia power forward Nerlens Noel, the sixth pick in the draft two years ago, fell apart on draft night — per sources, Terrence Ross was in play, but the Raptors asked for more. Another move seems likely. LeBron James still rules the East, but the Raptors may as well try to make him sweat.

But DeRozan, who played well against Cleveland, is back. This was the year television dropped a money bomb on the NBA, and the trick was finding safer money. Teams that were working with a US$70-million soft cap now have an US$85-million floor, and burned-out hulks like the Lakers and Knicks are flailing away, throwing money into a nostalgia furnace. The Raptors kept their money relatively safe. The devil they know is a good kid, and he can get better. The question, of course, is whether the Raptors can, too.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Read more about: