Should the Raptors Tear It Down?

A season that had great hope for a franchise with a middling history turned sour. Today, the Toronto Raptors fired their head coach Dwane Casey after seven seasons with the team. This was after the Raptors were swept by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the second round despite being the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference.

This raises the question for the Raptors regarding their future: What do they do? Should the Raptors tear it down and start from scratch?

The Raptors do have interesting contract situations, starting with Kyle Lowry. The point guard just signed a three-year, $100 million contract loaded with incentives to stay in Toronto, so his cap hit is lofty at the moment. Strangely, his contract is slightly backloaded, with Lowry earning just over $5 million more going into the final year of his contract. DeMar Derozan also signed a deal with the Raptors, inking a contract for five years and $139 million with a player option for 2020-21. Both contracts seem like a lot of cap room to take on right now, so Toronto will want a lot for either one of those players.

Other trade options for the Raptors include center Jonas Valanciunas, a great role player who's currently in a four-year, $64 million deal with a 2019 player option, and Serge Ibaka, a defensive stalwart who's locked in Toronto with a three-year, $65 million deal. Ibaka isn't as much of a cap hit as DeRozan and Lowry are and neither is Valanciunas. If Toronto wanted to start somewhere, these two would be great to trade. Both are fairly young and are either budding stars or established players. In any case, the Raptors need solutions and they'll need them quick.