How Ed Davis prevented Raptors from drafting Damian Lillard

The Toronto Raptors have wanted Damian Lillard since 2012. Ed Davis kept him from coming to Canada.

In the strike-shortened 2011-12 season, the Raptors were reeling after Chris Bosh took his talents to South Beach and the Miami Heat. While he and the Heat were chasing their first title, the Raptors were chasing a lottery pick. Former Toronto general manager Bryan Colangelo admitted he was trying to tank that year, perhaps to get top prospect Anthony Davis.

Heading into the final game of the season on April 26, 2012, Toronto had the same 22-43 record as the New Jersey Nets, who inexplicably traded their first-round pick to Portland for Gerald Wallace six weeks earlier. Toronto had every incentive to lose and New Jersey had none, but Toronto still came away with a 98-67 victory thanks to Ed Davis, who scored 24 points on 10-for-15 shooting and grabbed 12 rebounds. Even with all their normal starters on the bench, Toronto won and moved ahead of the Nets and Sacramento Kings in the standings.

New Jersey ended up sending the No. 6 pick to Portland, who drafted Lillard out of Weber State. Reportedly, Toronto had Lillard second on their draft board behind "the Brow" and would surely have taken him with the sixth pick.

Ed Davis averaged 11.5 points and 10.2 rebounds in three seasons with some bad Raptors teams. Beyond screwing up their tanking effort in 2012, Davis' most memorable moment in Toronto came when he hit a last-second basket to get the Raptors to 100 points and win free pizza for the fans — in a game they were losing by 19 points.