There are always a bunch of “what if” stories that come with every draft class in the NBA.
What if the Trail Blazers took Michael Jordan instead of Sam Bowie? What if the Knicks beat the Warriors to Stephen Curry? What if Shaq actually stays in Orlando with the Magic? The list goes on and on.
Now, we can add a new one. What if the Raptors actually drafted Giannis Antetokounmpo in 2013?
They were trying their hardest to do so. A clip from the Raptors’ new “Open Gym” documentary series on TSN shows GM Masai Ujiri and his assistant, Bobby Webster, frantically making trade calls to try and get Giannis.
In the video, they tried to move up and reclaim the 12th pick — that was originally theirs, by the way — from the Oklahoma City Thunder. They also tried to snag the 14th pick from the Timberwolves, but couldn’t make a deal.
Masai Ujiri and Bobby Webster, trying to find a way to draft Giannis Antetokounmpo. It seemingly almost happened. 😳
via @Bell's Open Gym documentary, The Bubble. pic.twitter.com/ENWHb4j3vr
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) December 10, 2020
No dice. Ultimately, the Raptors didn’t have a draft pick that year so they didn’t end up picking a player.
And it didn’t really matter in the long run. Six years later, they end up winning a championship with Kawhi Leonard. So, ultimately, they got what they wanted.
But, man. Just think about it. Giannis on those Raptors with Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan both in their primes? That’s a squad, yo. Unfortunately, we never got to see it.
I’ll tell you what, though. The Raptors definitely have their free agency pitch now if Antetokounmpo hits the market.
