If you’re tracing the devolution of the Raptors franchise, from their crowning championship achievement in 2019 to their latest bit of off-season hard luck, there’s at least one consistent through-line.

As it was with Kawhi Leonard, and Danny Green, and Serge Ibaka, and Marc Gasol, so it was with VanVleet. The Raptors lost each of them to free agency for what amounts to nothing. In the ongoing dismantling of what’s left of a championship team, the Raptors have received very little in return for some of their best players.

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