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Today’s report that the Toronto Raptors will have their own NBA D-League affiliate is great news for fans and players alike. Until now, the Raptors were just one of 13 teams sharing rights to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, a sub-optimal situation for every single franchise involved. Playing time and roster spots are at a premium, and the NBA teams do not get the luxury to experiment with play style as ones with their own affiliate do.
I expressed hope that this deal would come to fruition when things were up in the air, and as a Raptors fan, it’s nice to see things work out for change. Young Raptors like Bruno Caboclo, DeAndre Daniels and whomever they draft on Thursday will get adequate opportunities to play in the D-League this year to develop their games. Caboclo barely played on Fort Wayne in 2014-15; Daniels, absurdly, played in Australia. That’s how cramped things were with the Mad Ants.
The new team being in Mississauga should also help cultivate the growing basketball culture in Canada. The city is admittedly a suburb of Toronto, but interest is interest. Toronto fans are as passionate as any in the NBA, and I imagine they’ll make Mississauga’s games some of the D-League’s most well-attended.
Finally, the team being located in Mississauga should allow players to move fluidly to and from the D-League since travel is not a concern. Guys like Caboclo might also be able to practice with Raptors players, which is ideal for him in his pursuit to become an NBA player.
Owning their own D-League franchise should be very helpful for the Raptors, and I can only wish the same for the rest of the NBA teams timesharing in Fort Wayne. At the end of the day, it’s really not fair for certain NBA franchises to own their own D-League affiliate while others don’t.
However, today marks another step in the right direction.
Casey Sherman is the Toronto Raptors Beat Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @shermham
