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Nicolas Batum has interest in playing for the Toronto Raptors when he becomes an unrestricted free agent in 2016.

Toronto is an international city that appeals to Batum.

The Charlotte Hornets acquired Batum this offseason from the Portland Trail Blazers despite him entering his contract year.

General manager Rich Cho and assistant general manager Chad Buchanan are familiar with Batum from their time with the Blazers.

“We are very comfortable given that Chad and Rich know Nic well,” said Hornets' vice-chairman Curtis Polk.

“We’ve seen over the last few years that players want to be here,” Cho says. “Free agents want to come here.”

Via Zach Lowe/Grantland

you will make a good plan B, nic.

never thought I'd see the day when free agents are interested in paying here.

jlokine wrote:you will make a good plan B, nic.

Or maybe he can do his best Parsons impression once he comes over and convince KD how great it would be to start a legacy of their own in TO. One can only dream, right?

We tried to get him here once, and he turned us down

http://www.csnnw.com/article/batum-has-offer-minnesota-and-meetings-toronto-new-orleans

defstarcon wrote:We tried to get him here once, and he turned us down

http://www.csnnw.com/article/batum-has-offer-minnesota-and-meetings-toronto-new-orleans

He was a RFA

No better way to endear yourself to a new city than to start talking about where you want to play next. Nice.

I dont understand what ignited him to even say this. Maybe he wants a shout out in Drakes next song

Lol poor Charlotte fans.
These morons trade Vonleh (the one bright spot in their horrible collection of assets) for the ever mediocre Batum, who's a free agent in 12 months.

Then they turn down the Celtics picks (which included an unprotected Brooklyn pick) & the other picks, for Frank freakin Kaminsky.

Devastating if you're a Charlotte fan.

Well we could always use more depth at the 3. Hahaha.

I feel like this is just trolling for Raps fans page hits. No quote from him. He probably has interest in playing for 10 teams.

His production took a pretty surprising drop last year, but he'd be a nice replacement for Derozan if he's traded/signs elsewhere. Would be a very versatile wing combo with Carroll.

robbie84 wrote:Lol poor Charlotte fans.
These morons trade Vonleh (the one bright spot in their horrible collection of assets) for the ever mediocre Batum, who's a free agent in 12 months.

Then they turn down the Celtics picks (which included an unprotected Brooklyn pick) & the other picks, for Frank freakin Kaminsky.

Devastating if you're a Charlotte fan.

Charlotte fans just can't catch a break. More bad news after more bad moves ever since the organization moved back there.

As a blazers fan I think trading Batum made sense with how the offseason went anyhow but this makes me even happier we got a young asset on a rookie deal (with 3 years left no less)for him

Do we really need the French Bruno Caboclo?

RandomRaptorfan wrote:Do we really need the French Bruno Caboclo?

Well the original is 3 years away from being 3 years away...so could use a filler?

Batum has interest in playing for whomever will pay him 60 million over four years.

Foreshadowing the Raps being relocated to Montreal and being renamed as the Cosmopolitans

coopnyc74 wrote:No better way to endear yourself to a new city than to start talking about where you want to play next. Nice.

It's hard to judge him by this report... He was probably asked the question by a Canadian reporter.

I didn't see any quotes from Batum, just this

Batum’s people have already made noise about how much Batum would like to play in Toronto, a city that appeals to his international roots, per several league sources.

which should be the antithesis of worrisome to Charlotte fans

Devilzsidewalk wrote:I didn't see any quotes from Batum, just this

Batum’s people have already made noise about how much Batum would like to play in Toronto, a city that appeals to his international roots, per several league sources.

which should be the antithesis of worrisome to Charlotte fans

What should worry Hornet fans is the fact that Rich Cho is the guy that overpaid Batum in the first place.