DeMar DeRozan made absolutely zero overtures toward leaving the Raptors in free agency this past summer, even going so far as to claim, “I am Toronto.” It was a powerful statement, made even more so by the fact that DeRozan is a native of Compton, California, and the Los Angeles Lakers had the cap space and need for a star.
The “hometown boy” narrative is a powerful one that can take hold in a fanbase without any basis in fact — just look at Kevin Durant and the way Washington, D.C. fans whipped themselves into a frenzy for years before he even hit the market. But that narrative rarely moves the needle for players themselves, except in the wrong way. Durant himself was offput by the pressure that being a franchise savior in his hometown would have brought. It seems DeRozan feels a similar way:
DeRozan said happy no more photoshops of him in a Lakers jersey. Said kids knocked on his door in L.A. with a photoshopped picture.
— Ryan Wolstat (@WolstatSun) September 26, 2016
First of all, unless you have something to sell or a charity that needs donations, nobody needs to go knocking on strangers’ doors. (Nobody ever needs to outside of Halloween, but you have to respect the hustle.) Leaving that aside, however, we still have questions about how effective those kids thought they would be.
“Hey, DeMar! Look how good you’d look in Lakers gold, my man! Wait, why are you closing the door? DeMar! DEMAAAAR!”
