DeMar DeRozan may have been the player that helped re-establish the Toronto Raptors, but his time in Toronto didn’t mean that much in the end. Over the summer, Raptors President Masai Ujiri decided to make the difficult decision to trade DeRozan to the Spurs to get potential MVP caliber star Kawhi Leonard. It was the right basketball move but not necessarily the popular one for DeRozan and his fans. DeRozan did everything he could for the Raptors while truly embracing the city and team culture. Fans still love him, but he’s unsurprisingly not a big fan of the organization these days.
Now a member of the Spurs, DeRozan was asked about a recent pregame video Sportsnet made before Toronto’s season opener against the Boston Celtics.
The video obviously meant to hype up fans, had a pretty cool theme. It was essentially telling fans that it was time to stop being worried about past failures, and not being seen as an attractive free agency destination, and to embrace what they have. However, there were two parts of the video that could be seen as a little insulting to former players. In DeRozan’s case, it seemed to praise Ujiri for deciding to make the decision to trade DeRozan.
The video also took a not so subtle shot at former Raptors Vince Carter, Chris Bosh, and Tracy McGrady for wanting to leave in the past. Mike Finger of the San Antonio Express-News asked DeRozan about his thoughts on the video, and he was a bit miffed about that part of the video.
Talked to DeMar DeRozan about that Raptors pregame video (which Sportsnet apparently took down?) and he said he "didn't get it." Thought it was disrespectful, not to him, but to guys like Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady. "Don't downplay what the previous people did," he said.
— Mike Finger (@mikefinger) October 22, 2018
It makes sense why DeRozan isn’t that insulted by the part that mentioned him. After all, it was done in a way that made it clear letting him go was difficult. He is annoyed though at the video “downplaying” the accomplishment of previous Raptors, though. Which makes sense: these are the stars the franchise was built on before him. No one likes to see a team take shots at former franchise greats.
DeRozan is right, too. The video was meant to send a message that just because previous players left doesn’t mean Leonard will or that fans should just assume that he’s gone. Still, it paints Carter, McGrady, and Bosh as if they betrayed the team and the city for leaving. Quite frankly, Toronto basketball might not even exist anymore if it wasn’t for Carter, and Bosh didn’t exactly have a great supporting group around him throughout his time in Toronto. They did plenty for the team and city while they were there. But as DeRozan points out, there’s no need to paint them as villains just to raise up Leonard and the current team.
