and Lowry himself has $90M coming still. Derozan was the best value of all their big contracts, and they have a bunch.

i understand what youre saying but why would Kawhi buy into Jonas/Lowry/Ibaka/Powell/Miles hamstringing them for like 90M(!) in 19-20, and then hoping you get lucky to make a "Blake to the Pistons" type trade for a star in his 20s with team control?

I honestly think the Raps un-sold a lot of future tickets with this trade. They were selling out their arena being "good, not great" and for a time at least displaced the Leafs as Toronto's favorite sports team. I dont see the logic on why they couldnt just continue to make money and be good until their contracts that are *actually* terrible come off naturally? Two years from now Derozan would only be 30 with an injury history that thus far is excellent, the bench that you like so much would be maturing, and they would drop like $90M off the payroll just by flipping days on the calendar.