NBA Rumors: Toronto Raptors Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan Slam Dwyane Wade, Hassan Whiteside To Prove LeBron James Wrong

By Mitch de Leon
NBA: Playoffs-Miami Heat at Toronto Raptors
May 5, 2016; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Raptors guard Kyle Lowry (7) cuts between Miami Heat guard Goran Dragic (7) and forward Joe Johnson (2) in game two of the second round of the NBA Playoffs at Air Canada Centre. The Raptors won 96-92.  Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports

The NBA playoffs 2016 are heating up. While the Cleveland Cavaliers are battling it out against the Atlanta Hawks, the Miami Heat are engaged in equally exciting games against the Toronto Raptors in the Eastern Conference. However, it looks like the "trash talks" are not from the currently opposing NBA teams. At the moment, fans are looking at a LeBron James vs Kyle Lowry matchup. Will Dwyane Wade and Hassan Whiteside be set aside to make way for a fight between the Kyrie Irving and DeMar DeRozan battle?

The speculations on the trash talks between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Toronto Raptors, the two most dominant NBA teams in the Eastern Conference today, came after the comments of LeBron James himself. After the face off between the Kyle Lowry squad and the Miami Heat, King James shared his excitement over the possibility of playing against former teammate D-Wade. This caught the ire of the Toronto Raptors who felt that their presence in the NBA playoffs 2016 has been completely disregarded by the Cleveland Cavaliers.

"I've said this before -- nobody respects us," said Dwane Casey of the comments of LeBron James. He added, "Everybody has written us off and that's fine. The people in this building right now, in that locker room over there, are the most important people to believe that. Hopefully our guys take that to heart and take offense to it. They're the ones that can do something about it."

Currently, the Toronto Raptors are second to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the overall rankings in the Eastern Conference. Meanwhile, the Miami Heat hold third place. However, the Kyle Lowry squad has never been truly recognized as formidable threats to the reign of the Kevin Love team in the division. Throughout the NBA season, the Cleveland Cavaliers have focused more on beating the likes of the Atlanta Hawks and Miami Heat than taking into consideration the possibility of getting dethroned by the Toronto Raptors.

"It's been like that since I've been here," shared Patrick Patterson. The Toronto Raptors power forward added, "It's nothing new as far as not getting the respect that I feel we deserve. It's something we face every day and something that we're OK with because, at the end of the day, it's us in the locker room versus the world."

At the moment, the Toronto Raptors are up 2-1 versus the Miami Heat. With their recent win over the Dwyane Wade squad, the Kyle Lowry team is showing just how wrong LeBron James was in dismissing them as potential NBA playoffs 2016 final contenders. Will they gain the respect of the basketball community by then?

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