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City of Mississauga to be granted NBA D-League team

The Toronto Raptors D-League team look to finally have a home (and name).

By Joshua Santos
John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

Lost in all the excitement of the NBA Draft, the Toronto Raptors have secured the rights to an NBA D-League team just outside the City of Toronto. According to the Toronto Star, the team will be based in Mississauga. An official announcement will be made on Monday.

Per the Star, the team will play at the Hershey Centre and "will be named something along the lines of Raptors905". The news was also confirmed by the Toronto Sun.

While the Hersey Centre already houses the Mississauga Power of the National Basketball League of Canada, according to the London Free Press the franchise will convert into the proposed D-League team.

This is a significant milestone for the Raptors as both CEO Tim Leiweke and GM Masai Ujiri have spoken of the D-League's importance for some time. It will cost MLSE around $6 million to land the team, but when compared to some NBA salaries, it's a bargain.

This is also big news for the team as last year, Bruno Caboclo and Bebe Nogeuira spent chunks of the season down south with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants. But with the Mad Ants sharing an affiliation with 13 other NBA teams, it was hard for Bruno and Bebe to get any burn and see in-game action.

But now?

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Bruno&amp;&#10;Bebe&amp;&#10;DeAndre&amp;&#10;Rondae&amp;&#10;Scrubbz&#10;&#10;<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/daretodreaminMississauga?src=hash">#daretodreaminMississauga</a></p>&mdash; Eric Koreen (@ekoreen) <a href="https://twitter.com/ekoreen/status/613816896215908352">June 24, 2015</a></blockquote>

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