Ujiri: Raptors have 'no interest' in playing outside of Toronto next season
Toronto Raptors president Masai Ujiri is hopeful his team will be back playing in front of fans in Toronto at the start of next season after calling Tampa home for the entire 2020-21 campaign.
"I think the government knows what it needs to do. ... We have no interest in playing anywhere else," Ujiri told reporters, including The Associated Press' Tim Reynolds, during his end-of-season media availability Wednesday. "Tampa was great to us, but like Freddy (VanVleet) said, Tampa is not Toronto."
On top of the season-long relocation, the Raptors dealt with a significant COVID-19 outbreak that halted their momentum prior to the All-Star break. Ujiri maintains no other organization was forced to endure the hardships Toronto did.
"We have been incredibly disadvantaged by all of this. The displacement did not work well for us," Ujiri said, according to The Athletic's Eric Koreen. "In terms of this environment, we were No. 30 in terms of what we went through."
Ujiri added "there's a lot of work" to be done in regards to the league's relationship with its lone Canadian club, per Reynolds.
The executive is yet to sign with the Raptors beyond this season. Ujiri says negotiations will center around changes he wants to see within the organization, particularly how it can attempt to reemerge as a title contender.
"Everybody says, like, "blank check, blank check," but I'm not as much focused on blank check. ... We have to move forward as a franchise to compete with the best in the NBA. This is all about winning a championship again," Ujiri said, according to The Athletic's Blake Murphy.
The Raptors missed out on the postseason for the first time since 2013 after struggling to a 27-45 record.