Though DeMar DeRozan had a bitter exit from the Toronto Raptors in 2018, the ahead doesn’t sound like he’s holding a lot of a grudge.
Actually, DeRozan craves a return to the crew that made him an NBA participant.
Showing on the JD Bunkis Podcast on Sportsnet 590 The Fan on Tuesday, DeRozan was requested if he want to end his profession as a Raptor.
“You at all times need a poetic ending (in) that method,” he stated. “Granted, most individuals don’t get to write down their very own ending. However what a greater ending than having the ability to finish the place you begin. Not simply finish, by simply placing up the jersey. It needs to be in a way of me nonetheless being myself.
“I wouldn’t wish to come again and be (Hakeem) Olajuwon (who completed his Corridor of Fame profession as a Raptor for one season with vastly diminished numbers). It has to only make sense. You sort of wish to exit such as you got here in. That’s what folks sort of bear in mind you as.”
DeRozan, after all, was traded to the San Antonio Spurs within the Kawhi Leonard deal earlier than the 2018-19 season. Leonard then led the Raptors to their first and solely NBA title that season.
The Raptors’ first-round choose (ninth total) in 2009 out of USC, DeRozan stated earlier this month he felt the crew nonetheless would have received a championship if he wasn’t traded.
However as a substitute, DeRozan has travelled across the NBA. The Spurs traded him to the Chicago Bulls and he’s now a member of the Sacramento Kings on a three-year contract after a summer time sign-and-trade.
The 35-year-old averaged 24 factors per recreation final season, the eleventh 12 months in a row wherein he was at 20 factors or extra.
DeRozan, who stays a fan favorite in Toronto, returns to city for the primary time as a King on Nov. 2.
