DeRozan had been good, but not All-Star great, throughout most of his five playoff appearances in Toronto.

Against Brooklyn in 2014, a seven-game series loss, he’d averaged almost 24 points per game in the series, but shot less than 39 percent, too. The next year, Toronto got swept by the Washington Wizards in the first round, and DeRozan’s average dipped to 20.3 points per game, on 40 percent shooting.

The 2016 Raptors went on the longest playoff run in team history.

Both DeRozan and the Raptors had their best postseason success in 2016, when they reached the Eastern Conference finals. Against Indiana in the first round, DeRozan had 34 points in the crucial fifth game of a 2-2 series, then went for 30 in the decisive Game 7. Against Miami, he had 28 and 8 in Game 7, a 27-point Raptors rout that got them to the conference finals.

But, from that point on, LeBron and the Cavs gutted the Raptors' psyche.

In '16, Toronto had Cleveland tied 2-2 in the conference finals. But in perhaps the biggest game in franchise history, Game 5 in Cleveland, the Cavaliers smoked the 116-78. DeRozan was 2 of 8 from the floor. And Cleveland closed Toronto out in six games.

In 2017, James averaged 36 points, 8.3 rebounds and 5.3 assists in a four-game sweep of Toronto in the Eastern Conference semifinals. The Cavs won each game by an average of 15.3 points per game.

Despite a solid 2017-18 season, the Raptors were again swept in the playoffs by the Cavs.

And this year, of course, was the coup de grace, with Toronto blowing a 14-point first-quarter lead in Game 1 and a 10-point lead with 10 minutes left in the game. There was the too crazy to be believed sequence in the final seven seconds of regulation, with the game tied at 105, when Fred VanVleet missed a 3-pointer, DeRozan missed a putback, C.J. Miles missed the putback of that miss, then missed another putback of his miss, and Jonas Valanciunas missed a tip in. All in seven seconds. The Cavs would then beat the Raptors 113-112 in OT.

And that’s why, as The New York Times’ Marc Stein first reported, the Raptors let it be known around the 2018 Draft that their veterans –Lowry, DeRozan, Serge Ibaka and Valanciunas -- were available, while none of their core young players -- guards Fred Van Vleet or Delon Wright, and forwards O.G. Anunoby and Pascal Siakham – were not. The Raptors were ready to turn things over completely to their young guys, if need be.

But Lowry, at more than $30 million per year through 2020, had precious few suitors. Ditto for Ibaka (almost $45 million left on his three-year, $65 million contract, also through 2020) and Valanciunas (two years and $34 million left, including a player option in 2019-20).

That left DeRozan. But the Raptors did not believe the Spurs were all that interested. They’d been talking round and round with Philly and the Lakers (not so much Boston, but the Celtics, with their trove of young players and remaining future Draft picks, could always get deeply involved at any moment if they chose). Toronto was on the list, too, but the discussions were stagnant. The Spurs were asking about Anunoby, a potential Leonard clone, as well as another future first, which continued to be a non-starter.

Youngsters such as Delon Wright and Fred VanVleet emerged as solid players last season.

But, teams always continue dialogue, even when the trade trail goes cold. So San Antonio and Toronto kept talking, at lower management levels, while NBA Summer League began. It was in Vegas where Ujiri met DeRozan and DeRozan’s agent, Aaron Goodwin, separately. The meeting with Goodwin, per sources, was planned. Running into DeRozan at Cox Pavilion, after one of the Raptors’ games, was not. Ujiri and DeRozan spoke briefly -- less than five minutes.

Sources with knowledge of each of the talks generally concur that Ujiri said no DeRozan trade was imminent, and that he wanted to know what DeRozan was going to do this summer to become a better performer in the playoffs. What is in question is whether Ujiri assured DeRozan there would be no trade at all, or if he promised Goodwin and/or DeRozan they would be contacted if things changed.

Asked about the discussions this weekend, Goodwin said: “this is a business and more and more players are starting to understand they are only as good as the last game that they have played for some of these owners, presidents and GM’s. Not all, but some. Some will treat a player and their family and representation with respect, others don’t even return phone calls. DeMar to this day still has not heard anything from ownership.”

After Vegas, Ujiri went on his trip to Africa and the meeting with President Obama and Auma Obama. But San Antonio hadn’t made any headway with Philly and was still extremely reluctant to trade Leonard to the Lakers. There weren’t many options. And the specter of Leonard going to the USA Basketball minicamp this week in Las Vegas, with Gregg Popovich also there in his first official appearance as the U.S. team’s coach, was not what anyone wanted to endure.

Whatever the timetable, the sides began moving toward one another. The Spurs dropped their request for another pick. The Raptors included one of their young guys in Poeltl. It came together, quickly.

San Antonio had resolution, finally. DeRozan, a class act and hard worker, will provide a potent one-two punch with All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge. The Spurs hope Dejounte Murray makes a big jump in his first full season as a starter, without the specter of a Hall of Famer in Tony Parker behind him. The Spurs will figure it out without Leonard. They had a lot of practice doing so last season.

Toronto, though, begins watching the clock. The Raptors have a sales job in front of them.

They think they check all the boxes in which Leonard will be interested -- strong ownership, organizational purpose and infrastructure, a culture of defense, a rabid fan base, a fabulous, cosmopolitan city that nonetheless won’t smother a basketball player the way it might, say, John Tavares. (Longtime San Diego reporter/columnist Mark Zeigler wrote Sunday that the Raptors’ chances of keeping Leonard may be better than people think.) His first visit, replete with smiling photo, was one step. A million more follow.

Welcome to the North pic.twitter.com/FWy6huVI9l — Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) July 20, 2018

Yes, other teams have had to make difficult calls on star players. Boston moved Isaiah Thomas after an MVP-caliber season in order to get Kyrie Irving. Miami decided there was a price it was not willing to pay to keep Dwyane Wade in 2016 (though it got him back last February, after stops in Chicago and Cleveland).

But DeRozan was the first star in the Raptors’ history who never asked to be traded, never had a foot out the door, never broke Toronto’s heart by wanting to be elsewhere. He didn’t even take a free agent visit in 2016, agreeing to a five-year deal with the Raptors almost immediately. He repped the team that took him in the first round in 2009, and would have had no problem playing his whole career there.

He was loyal to Toronto, which built a team around him that became one of the NBA’s better teams. But not its best. And so loyalty had to take a back seat to cold calculation. The Raptors are putting their chips and their essential body parts in the middle of the table, no longer satisfied with being good, even very good. They will either be great or they will rebuild, all on the word of a man who, unlike the 44th President of the United States, doesn’t have much to say at all.

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Longtime NBA reporter, columnist and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer David Aldridge is an analyst for TNT. You can e-mail him here, find his archive hereand follow him on Twitter.

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