After almost a decade with the Raptors, DeMar DeRozan had to watch from the outside as they won their first title in franchise history. DeRozan, who was traded the year before, was on the Spurs when he saw his former teammates win the championship but he says it was not an easy experience.
“It f**ked me up because we couldn’t beat one person. We couldn’t beat LeBron. The year I got traded, LeBron left. I was more so mad because I was like, ‘Give it one more shot.’ In my mind that’s why I was like, ‘We got this sh*t now.’ So when I got traded that’s what made it hurt even more. I couldn’t watch, I’m not gonna lie.”
DeRozan, a 6x NBA All-Star, was traded to the Spurs back in the summer of 2018. The trade sent DeMar to be coached under Gregg Popovich in exchange for legendary swingman, Kawhi Leonard. Under Kawhi’s leadership, the Raptors managed to win it all that season (2019) and DeRozan was left as the odd man out.
For years, DeMar and his backcourt teammate Kyle Lowry made the Raptors a force to be feared in the league and they managed to secure the best record in the East in their final season together. Unfortunately, the Raptors had no answer for LeBron James in the 2019 playoffs and they were swept embarrassingly as the No. 1 seed.
DeRozan was traded months later, despite LeBron heading West, and he saw it as the ultimate betrayal. Even when Kyle Lowry, DeRozan’s good friend and teammate of several years, won his first title, DeMar couldn’t watch because of how it made him feel.
Looking back, there’s no question that the Raptors made the right move by trading for 2x champion Kawhi Leonard, even though he only stayed for one year. They won their only championship because of the trade and it will be a moment that lives on in history. DeMar, though, will never quite live it down.
DeMar DeRozan Reveals Why He Took The Raptors Trade Personal
Despite never winning a ring with the Raptors, DeRozan is considered a franchise hero for his tenure, where he posted 25.5 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 3.1 assists per game on 44.8% shooting.
The 6’6″ swingman led the charge behind some of the tea’s most successful seasons and built a lasting relationship with the city, the organization, and the millions of Raptors fans in Canada and all across North America. When you consider his deep ties and countless connections, it makes sense why he took the trade so hard.
“I took it personally,” said DeMar. “It took me a while to get over it. It’s easy to talk about it now, I don’t feel no way about it but in that moment it f**ked me up because I was like ‘you worked so hard, this is the place you wanted to be, you put everything into it, everything was centered around me.'”
DeRozan had a solid run with the Spurs but it was only a few years before he was eventually traded from there and sent to the Bulls. Now, with the odds of a championship exceptionally low, I understand why DeRozan feels some regret over how it went down and why he wishes he was given just a little bit more time to get the job done.
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