Few players are as synonymous with a franchise they are no longer a part of as DeMar DeRozan is with the Toronto Raptors.
Although DeRozan is now in his third season as a member of the San Antonio Spurs, it is hard to forget the nine years he spent in Toronto. He and Kyle Lowry remain in the minds of many the defining players of an entire Raptors generation.
This week, DeRozan appeared on the "All The Smoke" podcast with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson. While he covered a bunch of topics, the one that stands out most is him describing what happened in the lead-up to the trade that brought Kawhi Leonard to the Raptors and sent him to San Antonio.
Prior to that trade, LeBron James had agreed to join the Los Angeles Lakers. James had been a menace who Toronto simply couldn’t overcome in the East for years, and him moving to L.A. seemingly paved the way for a new conference champ. DeRozan said:
“Bron decides to go to L.A., so we like s--t.
“He’s the only person we ain’t lost to, maybe we have one more chance at this thing. That kind of eased our mind for a second cause there’s only like one motherf---ker we weren’t able to get past.
“We about to at least run it back on more time and give it a shot. That was our mindset.”
Sadly, while DeRozan’s general assumption about the East being wide-open was correct, he would not be a part of the Raptors team that eventually made it over the hump.
Instead it was Leonard, in his one year with the Raptors, who guided them to their first NBA title in franchise history.
While DeRozan missing out on the Raptors’ championship is objectively sad, he continues to be regarded as an all-time fan favorite (and an expert crime-fighter). Plus, at age 31, and taking into consideration how he plays the game, he will likely have an opportunity to compete for a title at some point before his career ends.
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