The Toronto Raptors are in the middle of an implosion with Nick Nurse leaving for the Philadelphia 76ers and Fred VanVleet joining the Houston Rockets in free agency. Pascal Siakam has heard his name creep up in trade rumors. But as the Raptors look to re-tool their roster, it now appears that VanVleet and Siakam played a major role in Toronto's original rift.

Siakam and VanVleet created a split between the younger players on the roster, via Michael Grange of Sportsnet. VanVleet was especially vocal about it, which led some distaste amongst his teammates. Nurse was unable to close to divide between the veterans young players, ultimately leading to Toronto's current demise.

“Sources have described a team where the veterans – VanVleet and Siakam especially – were deeply frustrated with the younger players on the roster and VanVleet let them know about it, something the younger players didn't appreciate at all,” Grange wrote. “Nurse wasn't able to bridge the divide as key players kept getting hurt and open three after open three drew only iron.”

Toronto is set to have a brand new roster this upcoming season. It appears that the tension in the locker room came to be too much, eventually boiling over. VanVleet and Nurse have already removed themselves from the situation. Siakam, though not necesarily by choice, could be the next to join them.

Fred VanVleet and Pascal Siakam helped the Raptors to new heights in their NBA Championship run. However, the years that followed simply weren't as sweet. When VanVleet and Siakam got frustrated about Toronto's struggled, all hell broke out in terms of team chemistry.