Chris Bosh’s five most important moments with the Toronto Raptors

The moment he knew

The end of Bosh’s time with the Raptors came sooner than the team wanted. In his lame duck season, there was plenty of speculation as to whether he would remain with the organization or head for greener pasture. Unfortunately, at the conclusion of that season, Bosh decided to take his talents to South Beach.

In the summer of 2010, the Raps and Heat executed a sign-and-trade. It made the departure official. The Raptors were able to acquire two first-round picks and a trade exception from the heat.  At the time, President and General Manager Bryan Colangelo commented on Bosh joining forces with James and Dwyane Wade.

"“We all just witnessed an unprecedented moment in professional sports as these three young stars have joined forces in an attempt to completely transform this league. We are certainly sorry to see Chris leave, but we are planning to use these acquired assets to retool our roster and evolve as an organization,”"

As previously detailed, Bosh only went to the playoffs twice with Toronto and exited early on both occasions. That lack of success wore on the big man. He grew tired of losing and wanted to add some help to his lineup.

Bosh joined HBO and The Ringer’s Bill Simmons on the Bill Simmons Podcast. With Simmons, he discussed the moment he knew that his time with the Raptors would come to an end. Bosh explained that John Salmons was a player that the team was looking to recruit.

Salmons was considering joining Toronto, however, at the last moment backed out of a five-year $23 million deal citing “divine intervention” for his reasoning.

"“That’s kind of when I knew it was going to be a lot more difficult being in Toronto. So as soon as I could change my destiny and have an opportunity to explore other things, I was ready to do that.”"

And he did.