The 75 greatest NBA players of the 2010s, ranked
By Cal Durrett
19) DeMar DeRozan
NBA star DeMar DeRozan was drafted during the first year of the 2010s and proved to be one of the best players of the decade. In 750 games, he averaged 19.9 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists, primarily for the Toronto Raptors.
He spent the first nine seasons of his career there, helping to establish the team as a winner. In his final five seasons in Toronto, the Raptors made the playoffs five straight times, including the Eastern Conference Finals and two semi-finals.
DeRozan was later traded to the San Antonio Spurs, which was seen as controversial considering that he was the best player in team history at that point. It worked out for the Raptors. They won a championship the following year without DeRozan, while he closed out the decade with the Spurs and scored a total of 14,925 points during the decade.
That puts him among the top players of his generation, despite not being nearly as high-profile. He scored the eighth-most points of the 2010s, and with four all-star appearances and two all-NBA teams, he was among the most decorated too. Five years after the end of the decade, he is still going strong, which is proof that he is among the best and even a borderline Hall of Famer.