Raptors could undergo seismic change at NBA trade deadline

On the latest episode of "Strictly Hoops," Amit Mann and C.J. Miles discuss the change that could be ahead for the Raptors and unhappy players in NBA locker rooms. Listen to the full episode on the 'Raptors Over Everything' podcast feed or watch on YouTube.

Video Transcript

AMIT MANN: Like, when the Raptors kind of found their identity-- and you were a member of the team during this time, too-- like, it was Kyle and DeMar. And that's when the Raptors culture, you want to call it that, that's when it was made. And then, obviously, Kyle and DeMar, they move on.

And that was passed on to Fred, Pascal, and OG. And now that all three of those guys are being mentioned in trade rumors, I'm like, we could be going into an altering of the Raptors identity right now. It's so strange to me to-- even, like, thinking of any one of those three not being Raptors, it makes me feel queasy. Like, this isn't--

CJ MILES: It's a wild thing, right? I don't even know how to even-- [LAUGHS] like, that's just a wild thing in general. Because it seems like it's been forever, even though it hasn't been as long.

But, like, the eras are like, of the teams, it's pretty much the length of 'em-- 4, 5, 6, 7 years. Four years is a big chunk to be somewhere in the league, and especially when you're a winning team, and you do a lot. The seasons are longer, so there's way more games, there's way more hype to it.

Like, these become parts of people's lives. Like, they literally remember what they were going through in other parts of their life because of the Raptors being in the Eastern Conference Finals. Like, I was 12, and I was [GIBBERISH], and this happened, and this happened. And then we saw it removed from the game, and like--

AMIT MANN: Yeah.

CJ MILES: --like, this is the special side of the entertainment that we [? call ?] the NBA, is that these people are, like, really linked in like that, and invested.

AMIT MANN: Mm-hmm. Have there been instances in your NBA career where trade deadline comes around, and a player didn't get traded, and he was unhappy?

CJ MILES: All the time. It happens all the time.

AMIT MANN: Oh, yeah?

CJ MILES: It happens. It happens all the time, yeah. It might not be-- because it's always something like that. And it might not be, what, the biggest guy in the room. So it might not be in the news everywhere, like, how we got these guys that are the names.

But that happens all the time, and guys know. Like, guys will know, like, around, that a guy's not-- because the guy's not happy, and you know he's actively trying to get out of there. It's kind of hard not to know.

AMIT MANN: Sure.

CJ MILES: And then it don't happen, and it's, like, back to that thing. Like, we professionals. This is still our job. Like, I'm not carrying nothing-- like, I never took that personally as a player. I ain't got time for that. [LAUGHS] Like, I don't got time to take it personal.

Like, I'm worried about doing what I'm doing, and doing what I'm supposed to be doing. Like, if you're not happy, like, I don't know. We'll figure it out somehow.

But I'm not taking it to a point of, like, oh, he don't like playing with me? Like, I don't-- I don't care. Like, I'm not worried about that.

AMIT MANN: No, for sure, like, they can separate that. I think most players probably can, that even if you and the franchise aren't cool, you're not happy with your role or whatever, you can separate that because you're still like, your guys are your guys.

CJ MILES: Exactly, exactly.

AMIT MANN: Yeah.