Masai Ujiri: Retaining DeMar DeRozan Raptors’ top priority, will not commit to max deal

DeMar DeRozan is one of the central figures in the Toronto Raptors’ renaissance, so it’s no surprise that the team wants to keep him around for years to come.

General manager Masai Ujiri would not, however, commit to offering DeRozan a max deal in comments he made on Monday.

Masai Ujiri: “Our No. 1 goal is to bring DeMar back here.”

— James Herbert (@outsidethenba) May 30, 2016

Masai on if Raps will offer DeRozan max: “I think that question is for later.…Our organization I think has showed that we want to win.”

— James Herbert (@outsidethenba) May 30, 2016

There’s no reason for Ujiri to compromise his negotiating position by saying something flippant about a max deal right now. The only thing we need to know is that the Raptors want to keep DeRozan, and though the links to the Lakers are all over the place, it seems that, given the mutual interest, it’s more likely than not that the two sides will figure something out. It may well be a max deal.