The Raptors are poised to announce they have acquired a D League team that will begin play this fall in Mississauga, according to multiple sources.

The team — to be named something along the lines of the Raptors905s as a nod to the suburban area code — will play out of the Hershey Centre and the official announcement could come as early as Monday, the Star has learned.

Toronto has sought a minor league affiliate for months and gained final NBA and D League approval for an expansion franchise in the last two weeks, the sources said.

The cost of a franchise is in the $6 million (U.S.) range, putting a pricetag on the team’s sole minor league affiliate that equals about the cost of one year at the NBA mid-level salary.

Toronto president and GM Masai Ujiri and his staff see a D League team as a huge step for the franchise, giving them control over players and coaching and the first minor league team outside of the United States.

“It would be the biggest deal of the year in our opinion,” Ujiri said Tuesday.

Coupled with the team’s new practice facility on the western edge of the CNE grounds that should open early near next and the NBA all-star game coming to Toronto in February, 2016, Ujiri and team management feel significant strides are being made to turn the Raptors into more than just a run-of-the-mill franchise.

The Raptors have shared a D League affiliation with other NBA teams since the founding of the league in 2001. Last season, they were one of 13 NBA teams affiliated with the privately-owned Fort Wayne Mad Ants, an unworkable arrangement at every imaginable level.

Bruno Caboclo, Toronto’s first-round 2014 draft pick, spent a handful of wasted days in Fort Wayne, seldom used by a team that had no vested interest in his development.

Caboclo averaged less than nine minutes a game in seven games with the Mad Ants and while Lucas Nogueira was used more — 20 minutes per game in four games — none got the individual attention that a single affiliation with an NBA team would afford them.

With their own franchise, the Raptors would have control over coaching and the use of their youngest players. They are restricted by league rules to being able to place players under contract to the NBA team in the minor leagues but there are no restrictions on adding free agents to D League team who are of interest to the Raptors.

Placing the franchise in Mississauga provides the proximity the team wants.

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“We want to develop players and we want to develop players close to you, you want to see their progress,” Ujiri said Tuesday at his final media availability before Thursday’s NBA draft.

There were 18 franchises in the D League last season and all but one either were owned directly by NBA teams or were operated as single affiliations.

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