DeMar DeRozan spent the first nine seasons of his career with the Toronto Raptors, becoming a beloved figure within the organization.
So when he was traded to the San Antonio Spurs before the 2018-19 season, he was devastated, as he revealed on The Pivot Podcast on Tuesday (25:10 mark):
“It fucked with me, I’m being honest. It’s crazy. Now I’m more than comfortable talking about it, but for a long time it fucked with me because, first of all, that was the place I wanted.” Being, I thought it was going to be, I gave it my all. Like my whole drive and motivation was just to put Toronto on the map, I wanted to follow the whole motto of, you know, Kobe (Bryant), my favorite player. I wanted to play on a team. I had it all planned. So when they moved me it was a big blow because at that time I was dealing with my family issues, like you said, that’s when my dad started getting sick. “That was the first time in my professional career that I felt out of place, I felt lost and I started to question everything.”
DeRozan said that the night he found out about the move, he was sitting at a movie premiere of Equalizer 2, right at the end of the line from Denzel Washington. He said his phone kept ringing during the movie and when he left the theater he received the call that had been answered.
“I didn’t tell anyone in the car what happened when I got the phone call,” he added. “I just told a guy to stop the car. I got out of the car, I started walking. I just walked down the street, sat in front of a fast food restaurant and started crying. Like, I just couldn’t believe it.”
The Raptors traded DeRozan, Jakob Poeltl and a protected 2019 first-round pick (which eventually became Keldon Johnson) for Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green. It was the biggest trade in Raptors history, resulting in a title for the team in the 2018-19 season.
The good times didn’t last long in Toronto: Leonard signed with his hometown Los Angeles Clippers in the summer of 2019 and the team has only won one playoff series since. But banners are forever.
As for DeRozan, he spent three seasons in San Antonio before moving to the Chicago Bulls in a sign-and-trade in 2021. It turned out to be a fantastic decision: He averaged 25.5 points per game over the last three seasons, with two spots for the mixed All-Star Game.
Of course, the Bulls only made the playoffs once in their three seasons in Chicago, and failed to advance beyond the Play-In Tournament in each of the last two years. But it has been a third positive act after the transition from Toronto to San Antonio was difficult for DeRozan.
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