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RailRiders win as Stanton heads for New York

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<p>TORONTO &#8212; The Toronto Raptors were still partying it up in Las Vegas, part of an extended celebration following their first championship, when the NBA starting reshaping itself for a new season with the blockbuster trade agreement Saturday that will send Anthony Davis to the Lakers.</p><p>Talk about snapping back to reality.</p><p>Turns out Raptors coach Nick Nurse already had.</p><p>Back home in Toronto Sunday, on the eve of a parade to honor his team, Nurse said he and general manager Bobby Webster have already started talking about a future that&#8217;s full of tough questions.</p><p>&#8220;Bobby and I have already had two meetings about it since the championship,&#8221; Nurse said. &#8220;The reality is that it&#8217;s right upon us, and we get to work. I&#8217;ve got several meetings today with some players. We don&#8217;t have any choice but to get to work on it. My thought, always, is stay hungry. We&#8217;ve got to get our guys that we want back.&#8221;</p><p>No player is more important to Toronto&#8217;s fortunes than Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard, who is expected to opt out of the final year of his contract and become a free agent.</p><p>&#8220;We definitely want him back,&#8221; Raptors forward Pascal Siakam said.</p><p>Center Marc Gasol said Leonard&#8217;s elite two-way game makes him &#8220;one of a kind.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t think there&#8217;s any other player of his caliber right now in the NBA,&#8221; Gasol said. &#8220;He&#8217;s on a pedestal by himself.&#8221;</p><p>With status like that, longtime teammate Danny Green said Leonard&#8217;s decision is sure to have a ripple effect across the NBA.</p><p>&#8220;Let&#8217;s not be foolish,&#8221; Green said. &#8220;His decision affects a lot of guys&#8217; decisions. He can change a whole organization.&#8221;</p><p>Raptors President Masai Ujiri also is the subject of speculation, linked to an offer from the Washington Wizards. Ujiri, who was not available Sunday, is expected to speak at Monday&#8217;s parade, which will finish in the square outside Toronto&#8217;s city hall.</p><p>Even after a year together, Nurse said he has no idea which way Leonard is leaning.</p><p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t really know,&#8221; Nurse said. &#8220;I know&#8217;s he&#8217;s got to make a decision here really soon, couple of weeks. I think he had a good season and people like him here, and we can give him a good deal.&#8221;</p><p>Guard Fred VanVleet said he&#8217;s joked with Leonard about the star forward&#8217;s uncertain future, but doesn&#8217;t plan to deliver a full-scale sales pitch.</p><p>&#8220;I would assume that he knows what is here and what makes this place special,&#8221; VanVleet said. &#8220;If it&#8217;s enough, it&#8217;ll be enough and if it&#8217;s not, it&#8217;s not. We would all love him to be back and if he&#8217;s not then we&#8217;ll move on from there. He came here and did what he was supposed to do. He brought this city the championship and I think he&#8217;s earned his freedom in his career to do what he wants to do, and we&#8217;ll all respect it and admire him.&#8221;</p><p>Even so, respect and admiration only go so far.</p><p>&#8220;If he&#8217;s on another team,&#8221; VanVleet said, &#8220;we&#8217;ll just have to kick his (butt) next year.&#8221;</p><p>Gasol can also opt out of the final year of his contract, while Green, a free agent, said he hopes to return.</p><p>Nurse said Gasol, acquired from Memphis at the trade deadline, changed Toronto&#8217;s view of itself as a title contender.</p><p>&#8220;After we had him for a few games we were like, &#8216;Woah, this guy&#8217;s good. He&#8217;s smart, he can pass,&#8217;&#8221; Nurse said. &#8220;Everybody was like &#8216;Man, we&#8217;re better and we can become really good.&#8217; That&#8217;s a big thing to contribute to a team.&#8221;</p><p>Gasol said he&#8217;s been too busy celebrating to consider his future, and understands he might not be Toronto&#8217;s first order of business.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m sure that the franchise has other priorities to go first,&#8221; he said.</p><p>Before re-signing Leonard, Gasol, or anyone else, the Raptors must make time for Thursday&#8217;s NBA draft. Toronto currently only has one pick, the second-last selection of the second rotund, 59th overall. The Raptors didn&#8217;t have a pick last year.</p><p>Nurse also said he&#8217;s close to finalizing a part-time role as head coach of the Canadian national team, a position he&#8217;s expected to hold through this year&#8217;s World Cup in China and next year&#8217;s Olympics in Tokyo.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s just about done,&#8221; Nurse said. &#8220;It&#8217;s something I&#8217;m looking forward to doing.&#8221;</p><p>Nurse, who spent a decade coaching in the British Basketball League, was an assistant coach for Britain from 2009 to 2012, culminating with the 2012 London Olympics.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Toronto Raptors guard Kyle Lowry, center right, holds Larry O&#8217;Brien NBA Championship Trophy after the Raptors defeated the Golden State Warriors 114-110 in Game 6 of basketball&#8217;s NBA Finals last week in Oakland, Calif. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/web1_123038313-448ba95cd59446a8acc272a7832a16db.jpg</photo0><caption0>Toronto Raptors guard Kyle Lowry, center right, holds Larry O&#8217;Brien NBA Championship Trophy after the Raptors defeated the Golden State Warriors 114-110 in Game 6 of basketball&#8217;s NBA Finals last week in Oakland, Calif. </caption0><photoCredit0>AP photo </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Ian Harrison</p><p>Associated Press</p></bylineMeta></div>

With questions looming, Raptors start thinking about future