How it all started for DeMar DeRozan with the Toronto Raptors
DeMar DeRozan’s career began in Toronto as a rookie in 2009. His rookie season wasn’t super exciting, but within the next few seasons, he was already averaging near 20 PPG.
By 2016 he was averaging career-high numbers – 27.3 PPG, 5.2 RPG, 3.9 APG, and he also led the Toronto Raptors to the Eastern Conference Finals.
DeMar DeRozan started and built his reputation in Toronto as a Kobe-esque type player. A pure shooting guard who focuses their game in the mid-range area, hitting difficult fadeaway jumpers, and has elite athleticism.
Players like DeRozan could be considered an anomaly in today’s game that is mostly relied upon the three-point shot.
By this point in his career, DeMar DeRozan had solidified himself as an elite scorer and perhaps one of the top 10 players in the league. He had proven that he could be the #1 guy on a team and potentially lead them to the NBA Finals.
After spending 8 seasons in Toronto, it seemed like DeMar may have a career similar to Reggie Miller or Kobe – one of those star-level players that stick with one franchise throughout his entire career. The Raptors were on the brink of making it to the NBA Finals, after all.
Surprisingly, the Raptors management had other ideas when they decided to split up the DeMar/Kyle Lowry bromance and traded DeRozan for Kawhi Leonard.
This obviously worked out for the Raptors in the short term since they won the NBA Championship the very next year, but it still left some salt in the mouth of DeRozan.
DeRozan was forced to move onto San Antonio where he quietly spent the next three years of his career. In San Antonio, he still put up very respectable averages, but the Spurs never really competed, so he wasn’t as relevant. He averaged 21.6 PPG, 5.3 RPG, and 6.2 APG in a Spurs uniform, but he learned and developed in many ways over those 3 seasons…