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Toronto Raptors all-star forward Scottie Barnes stopped short of calling the team's season a success.
He said the Raptors learned a lot about themselves and had a "solid" season at the team's end-of-season availability Monday.
Toronto was eliminated in the first round of the NBA playoffs Sunday, falling 114-102 in Game 7 to the more experienced and heavily favoured Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Raptors made a 16-win jump in the regular season, finishing 46-36 to secure the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference.
Toronto was without starting point guard Immanuel Quickley for the series, while all-star Brandon Ingram left Game 5 with an injury and missed the final two games.
RJ Barrett, of Mississauga, Ont., said "the future is very bright" for the Raptors.
WATCH | Barnes says the Raptors 'got better' with each game this season:Toronto Raptors forward Scottie Barnes spoke to the media in Toronto, one day after the team was eliminated from the first round of the NBA playoffs.The Dallas Mavericks have hired former Raptors executive Masai Ujiri as team president and alternate governor.
Ujiri was in charge of the club when they acquired Kawhi Leonard from the San Antonio Spurs and won the 2018-19 NBA title in Leonard's only season with Toronto.
The 55-year-old Ujiri replaces Nico Harrison, who was fired as general manager in November, nine months after trading Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in a deal that ended up being a significant setback for the Mavericks.
Ujiri was with the Raptors for 13 seasons, getting fired as president and vice chairman last June. He was first hired as executive vice president and general manager.
The club said Ujiri would be in charge of all aspects of basketball operations while working with team leadership on the long-term direction of the Mavericks.
Former Dallas guard Michael Finley and Matt Riccardi had served as co-general managers since Harrison was fired. They engineered the trade of Anthony Davis to Washington in February. The oft-injured center was the centerpiece for Dallas in the ill-fated Doncic deal.
Ujiri inherits a new face of the franchise in Rookie of the Year Cooper Flagg, the No. 1 overall pick last summer. The Mavericks landed Flagg in the draft lottery despite just a 1.8 per cent chance to get the top pick. Dallas has a 6.7 per cent chance in this year's lottery.
The Mavericks could emerge as playoff contenders despite missing the post-season the past two years following a run to the 2024 NBA Finals behind Doncic and Kyrie Irving. Dallas lost to Boston in five games.