Michael Grange

23 hours ago | sportsnet.ca | Michael Grange

CHICAGO — Khaman Maluach was just 13 years old when he first glimpsed his future. He was invited to attend a basketball camp in Uganda hosted by former NBA star Luol Deng, who has devoted much of his time since retiring to helping grow basketball in his native South Sudan, a war-torn country that only gained its independence in 2011.

2 days ago | sportsnet.ca | Michael Grange

CHICAGO — They were all gathered, watching intently, some with their laptops open, taking notes, occasionally conferring with each other, but for the most part keeping their own counsel. After the dust settled on Monday night’s explosive draft-lottery results, the Toronto Raptors front office got to work Tuesday morning on how to make the best of not having the No. 1 overall pick in the June 25-26 NBA Draft, and identifying the best possible player that will be available when they pick ninth.

2 days ago | sportsnet.ca | Michael Grange

CHICAGO — In 16 minutes or so, the dream was over. That’s all the time it took for the first portion of the televised NBA draft lottery to be completed. All it took for nine months of draft dreams to unravel. With that, Toronto Raptors president Masai Ujiri smiled, gave his head a slight shake, and walked off the stage checking his phone on the way. Unfortunately, there was likely no one offering congratulations on having the ninth-overall pick in the 2025 draft.

3 days ago | sportsnet.ca | Michael Grange

CHICAGO — For all the moves the Toronto Raptors have made, for good and less so, under Masai Ujiri’s 12-year tenure as the team’s top decision maker, he’s always allowed for the over-indexing of luck. Trades, hires, fires, draft picks — they all get scrutinized and replayed and what-iffed to death, but almost no amount of foresight eclipses the benefits or hindrances due almost wholly to the fates.

1 week ago | sportsnet.ca | Michael Grange

They aren’t dragons that need slaying. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder are far too early in their apparent ascendance to greatness to have monsters, real or metaphorical, that need to be wrestled into submission. But the obstacles lying between them and basketball immortality they’ve been chasing are getting more real all the time. For now, this elite basketball life is all too new to them. There has been no time to build up the kind of scar tissue that can weigh on a team.