When the Toronto Raptors won the NBA Championship in 2019 DeMar DeRozan couldn’t watch.
He was traded in the 2018 offseason for Kawhi Leonard who helped Toronto clinch a title.
DeRozan told The 25 10 Show he couldn’t watch the Raptors when they won it all:
“It f***ed me up. This the reason it f***ed me up because we couldn’t beat one person, we couldn’t beat Bron, you know what I mean? We’d run into Bron and we just couldn’t beat him. So the year when I got traded Bron left. He went to the Lakers. So I was more so mad like give it one more shot. If we had one more. In my mind, that was the whole thing. Like we’ve got this shit now. We gonna win it next year. That was the whole thing.”
The Raptors just couldn’t solve LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers losing to them in three straight playoffs. James then left the East in free agency to sign with the Los Angeles Lakers and DeRozan said that he was ready to go at it again without James in his way.
However, the Raptors had other plans. On July 18 2018, the Raptors struck a blockbuster trade sending DeRozan, Jakob Poeltl and a first-round pick to the San Antonio Spurs for Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green.
Thereafter, DeRozan returned to Toronto for the first time in January 2019 as a member of the Spurs and he received a standing ovation and an emotional tribute video. DeRozan said it messed him up:
“It f***ed me up because … for two years in a row every time I went back and played in Toronto they gave me a f***in’ tribute video. You don’t realize how much you do for a place until you go back. So that there f***ed me up.”
As time has passed DeRozan said he’s gotten over the pain. It was a tough thing for him to go through, but for the Raptors it resulted in the franchises’ only championship. It was a gamble that paid off in a big way.
Johnny Furphy goes to Toronto in latest mock draft
There’s no denying that the Raptors need help in a lot of areas. One of those areas is three-point shooting. The Raptors were one of the worst three-point shooting teams in the league this past season.
In Gary Parrish’s latest mock draft for CBS Sports he has the Raptors taking an intriguing young shooting talent in Johnny Furphy of Kansas at No. 19.
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