Raptors Genuinely Shocked by Boos For Goran Dragic: 'Like, What Happened?'

The Toronto Raptors had no idea Goran Dragic was such a villain in the city and were shocked by the reception he received Tuesday night in Scotiabank Arena

Aaron Rose | Mar 2, 2022

John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

It had been nearly seven months since Goran Dragic made those awkward comments in Slovenian about not wanting to play for the Toronto Raptors because he had higher ambitions. Sure, those comments weren't well-received, but Dragic quickly apologized for them and hadn't everyone moved on, Raptors coach Nick Nurse thought Tuesday night.

Asked what kind of reception he expected Dragic to receive in Toronto, Nurse said he wasn't sure.

"I don't know if there’s going to be much of one. I would say if there is one it may not be that great but I don't know, did it hit everybody's radar that hard?" Nurse wondered aloud. "So much has happened since then. I don't know if we are still thinking about that."

Well, some people haven't forgiven Dragic for his tumultuous time in Toronto.

By now you know the story. He showed up, played in a handful of games before the Raptors opted to bench him in favor of younger players, eventually leading to his personal leave and a trade deadline deal to San Antonio. Within the Raptors organization, everyone has moved on from Dragic. It's a non-story.

The fans, however, haven't forgotten. They were relentless Tuesday night in their booing. Every time he checked in the fans let him hear it as boos rained down every time he touched the ball.

"Man, I’ve got to get clued in to what's going on around here a little bit more. I was completely off on that one," Nurse joked post-game. "They were lively, that's for sure. They really have fun doing that. Don't they? They were ready. They were ready. Man, they were ready. They didn't take the foot off the gas the whole game. They really have fun with that."

"Oh man, yeah. I don’t know what was going on, I don’t know why Goran was getting booed. I mean, I wasn’t complaining, but, I wasn’t expecting that," Pascal Siakam added. "I was surprised. I don't know. I like Goran, so I don’t know. Like, what happened?"

Ah, whatever. On the night that fans finally returned to Scotiabank Arena in the thousands, it's OK if the fans have a little fun with it.

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