The MLSE board "has approved the purchase of a D League team" for the Raptors that President of Basketball Operations & GM Masai Ujiri "hopes can be up and running" for the '15-16 season, according to Doug Smith of the TORONTO STAR. Sources "put the price at about" C$6M. Raptors officials "have had preliminary discussions with Mississauga’s Hershey Centre as a possible home but they remain in their infancy." Smith notes Mississauga is "already home to a franchise in the National Basketball League of Canada and it’s difficult to see how both teams could thrive." But a Raptors D-League team "would be more a financial loss-leader than some major money-making proposition." Its value "would be in the development of basketball resources, particularly young players" (TORONTO STAR, 4/29). Ujiri said, "We are in advanced talks with the NBA and trying to figure out where this is going to be and when this is going to be. But we’ve crossed a lot of the big barriers and hurdles." In Toronto, Ryan Wolstat notes it is "unclear at this point whether the D-League squad will be based in Canada or somewhere close by" like New York. Visa issues "could make a Canadian location tricky" (TORONTO SUN, 4/29).
