That was the first thing Masai told me last summer when I contacted him about the news. He was just playing of course. He did not mean that leaving the Raptors was crazy. He did not even mean that joining the Heat was crazy. But what it meant was – the idea that we need any kind of discussion about it? That was stupid. What he meant was: Our relationship is more than just a player and management at this point. It’s bigger than just “work stuff”, where you leave one job to go to another, so you call the old boss to say thank you. Nah. It’s deeper than that with me and Masai. When did you go through what we went through? When do you share the story we share? This is not just the GM on the other end of the phone. This is the big brother. It’s a family. So, that’s more or less what we talked about with Masai. How will it always be family, and how better not to call to say thank you. He told me: “Get out of here, thank you. As if we do not keep talking. ΧΑ !! “You are stuck with me for a lifetime.” That meant a lot to me when I heard it from him. Dude … that meant everything. Because as Masai put it about our relationship – that’s how I feel about the whole city, to be honest. It’s like on a level, I know I’m gone. And with Sunday being my first game back, I want to show my love and show my thanks to everyone. But on this other level, it’s like: I hope everyone in Toronto reads this and almost reacts to how Masai did on this phone call. As on some level, I hope you think “this article is ridiculous *”. Not because there is hatred, but because there is so much LOVE. Because that’s self-evident what the last nine years have meant. And how I feel about everything we did together. I’m excited to play again at the Scotiabank Arena and hear Raptors fans do their job again. I’m excited to be on a field with Freddy and Pascal and OG again – if Masai is a big brother, then these are my little brothers, and they’re the kids now, taking over. And I’m excited to relive that Toronto basketball experience. But I also think it might just be a normal night somehow, you know what I mean? Because regardless of the shirt I wear, a lot has not changed… and will never change. It will never be a wrapper between me and this city. With family, it is never goodbye.
