Raptors President Makes Guarantee as Toronto Enters a New Era

Toronto Raptors president Masai Ujiri guarantees the organization will win again as Scottie Barnes and Immanuel Quickley ink long-term deals

Feb 9, 2024; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Raptors forward Scottie Barnes (4) and Toronto Raptors guard Immanuel Quickley (5) celebrate a win against the Houston Rockets at Scotiabank Arena. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports / John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

The message from Toronto Raptors president Masai Ujiri has never changed: The Raptors will win in Toronto.

It was his message back in 2013 when he took over as the organization's general manager and a decade later nothing has changed. Ujiri is obsessed with winning. At times, it seems like winning is all he talks about.

"I know you guys hear me saying it in the last 10 years, 100 times: Sports is about winning," Ujiri said Monday as the Raptors officially announced the signings of Scottie Barnes and Immanuel Quickley to new contract. "You can say I’ve said it 100 times and I’m talking, yeah I’m talking: We are going to win again in Toronto."

But it's easy to say it.

The hard part is actually doing it.

Toronto hopes it took a big step in that direction Monday morning by inking Quickley to a five-year $175 million contract and Barnes to a five-year rookie scale max extension worth at least $224.2 million starting in 2025. Between the two of them, the Raptors believe they have the building blocks of their core for the future and a group that the organization hopes can lead Toronto back to the promised land.

But the Raptors aren't there yet.

Last season Toronto went 25-57 and began the overdue process of rebuilding its roster. Over the course of one season, the Raptors turned over nearly their entire roster, parting ways with Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby, and 10 of its opening-day players, replacing them with Quickley, RJ Barrett, and a cast of new faces meant to better fit the organization's long term goals to build around Barnes.

"Last year was a shame to me, to us in a way that I feel we had to rebuild and many things came our way. It's now starting to settle." Ujiri said.

According to Ujiri, the organization feels it is beginning to get back to where it should be. Day 2 of the draft was the first time Ujiri said he felt really good about how the past year and a half transpired and where the Raptors are heading as the rebuild enters its first full season. It hadn't been easy getting to this point, but the happiness and development-first attitude Toronto used to be known for is beginning to return.

"A lot of the things that happened last year, by the grace of God, are not going to happen again, it’s going to be less chaos," Ujiri said. "In the NBA teams go through this and we went through ours last year and hopefully we can overcome that year and get back to our winning ways."

Nobody wants to wait around for winning too.

Barnes' contract can jump to nearly $270 million if he qualifies for an All-NBA team next season or earns the Defensive Player of the Year award and he knows the only way to do that is for Toronto to make a serious jump up the standings.

"It's hard to do all that other stuff if you're not making the playoffs, you’re the eighth seed, doing things like that," Barnes said. " That's why I want to be in the top of the league, top of the East standings."

For Toronto, that means the clock has started to tick. The organization has Barnes under contract for six more seasons, but in the NBA, time moves quickly and pressure will mount for the Raptors to be competitive again before Barnes hits free agency in 2030. How patient will Barnes be if Toronto isn't back competing among the best teams in the Eastern Conference toward the second half of the decade?

"I want to win basketball games and rebuild this thing back to where it was, try to get back to the top of the East," Barnes said. "I don’t like to lose, and all this rebuild talk, it’s whatever, but I want to go out there and win games."

Ujiri is confident it'll happen. He's built the Raptors up to the top once and while the teardown of Toronto's championship group didn't go the way anyone would have hoped, the Raptors have finally turned the page. Now they're set to enter a new season virtually unattached to the previous era.

The goal, though, remains the same.

"I’m guaranteeing it again: We will win in Toronto," Ujiri said. "Guarantee it."