Raptors take unnecessary stray from LeBron James in new commercial

There was a time when LeBron James absolutely owned the Toronto Raptors.

On their way to the 2016 title, LeBron and the Cleveland Cavaliers had to go through the Raptors in the Eastern Conference Finals. LeBron averaged a cool 26 points, 8.5 rebounds and 6.7 assists, plus 2 steals and a block, in a six-game series where the Cavs outscored the Raptors by a whopping 15 points per game despite the two losses.

The teams met again in the Second Round of the 2017 Playoffs and the result was even worse for Toronto; the Cavaliers steamrolled the Raptors and swept them in four games where the smallest margin of victory was seven points. LeBron put up a whopping 36 points per game in the demolition.

The King returned in 2018, again in the Second Round, and this was the coup de grace of the Raptors' demise. In another four-game sweep LeBron James averaged 34 points, 8.3 rebounds, an insane 11.3 assists and 2.8 STOCKS (combined steals and blocks). The Cavs were on their last legs as a contending group, and James would leave the following summer, but not before positively eviscerating the Toronto Raptors.

It was so bad that ESPN's Mark Jones renamed the city "LeBronto" as James was in the midst of another excellent game, a name that unfortunately stuck around.

James did leave for Los Angeles the following summer, and the Raptors reshaped their roster and made a run to the NBA Finals, knocking off the Golden State Warriors for the first championship in franchise history. Not having to play LeBron certainly had something to do with that run, but they had an amazing team and would have had an excellent chance to take down LeBron and the Cavaliers.

LeBron takes down Toronto again

Six years after their final battle, however, LeBron and his marketing team haven't forgotten the days of LeBronto. Despite playing in a different conference, and with no Raptors still on the roster who played against LeBron during any of those series except for Jakob Poeltl (who left and came back again), LeBron decided to kick the rebuilding Raptors in his latest ad campaign.

Check out this video for the LeBron 22s:

The theme of the video is that this shoe can stand up to pressure, and many of the items being crushed make a lot of sense. The shot clock shattering is very satisfying, the bricks and weights highlight the strenght of the machine. Even the bizarre looking Boston Celtics mini statue makes sense given LeBron's many playoff showdowns with the Celtics and their status as his current team's No. 1 enemy.

Also included in that array of crushed items is a small purple dinosaur, clearly indicating the Toronto Raptors. What did the Raptors do to deserve that?! LeBron is in Los Angeles and his playoff victories over the Raptors are years in the rearview mirror. If he was going to call back to the past, wouldn't it make more sense to place a Warriors logo, or a chef's hat, to indicate Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors? LeBron met them four times in the NBA Finals and then again as a Laker multiple times in the Play-In and playoffs.

It appears that Toronto caught a stray from a snarky ad man who thought it would be funny to reference LeBronto and his demolition of the Raptors. Perhaps this can provide extra motivation for the Raptors when they next play LeBron James and the Lakers on November 10th.