The Raptors Are Officially Moving To Tampa This Season After The Canadian Government Denied Them The Ability To Play In Toronto
What should be a pretty crazy storyline that just feels normal in 2020 has been developing for the last few weeks. The Toronto Raptors had been linked to pretty much a million cities to play home games this season. There were rumors they were going to move to Louisville, Nashville, Tampa and Newark. Well it's now official. The Canadian government is straight up saying no to them playing in Toronto and they are moving to Tampa.
I was hoping they'd move to Louisville honestly, but that's because I want Louisville to get a pro team. I know everyone says move them to Seattle for the year, but you have to keep them in the Eastern portion of the states. We've seen this lead to a city getting a pro team before - remember Oklahoma City. They hosted the Hornets when they had to move from New Orleans and everyone saw how awesome the homecourt advantage was. Boom, Seattle sells their team and we get the Thunder - still the worst name in all of sports.
Tampa doesn't make the most sense though. The whole thing we've heard right now is the NBA trying to not do a bubble and limit travel as much as possible. Well, the Raptors are in a division with the Knicks, Celtics, Nets and Sixers. Put them somewhere in the northeast. Shit, put them in Buffalo! It worked for the Blue Jays. Bring back the Buffalo Braves for a year. The city of Buffalo should have shit year round to cheer for. Throw in the Sabres, throw in the Blue Jays and now throw in what should be the Raptors.
Wonder how Drake is handling the news.