TORONTO — DeMar DeRozan tries not to think about the Toronto Raptors retiring his jersey.
Instead, he likes to focus on other Raptors greats who deserve the honour.
DeRozan watched Vince Carter's No. 15 get retired — the first to be so honoured by the Raptors — during the intermission of Toronto's 131-128 overtime win versus his Sacramento Kings on Saturday. DeRozan spent the first nine seasons of his NBA career with the Raptors, earning four all-star appearances in that span.
"It's just more so cool to see Vince go up then, without a doubt, Kyle (Lowry) is going to be up there," said DeRozan. "I rarely think about mine going up there, unless it's mentioned to me.
"It's beyond an honour. I’m always humbled with just the thought of that even being an opportunity."
DeRozan was picked ninth overall by Toronto in the 2009 NBA Draft and debuted that season. He was sent to the San Antonio Spurs in the summer of 2018 in a deal that brought Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green to Toronto, a trade that set up the Raptors' 2019 NBA Championship.
The 35-year-old DeRozan's first five seasons in Toronto overlapped with a period when Raptors fans regularly and loudly booed Carter. That hostility was over the perception that Carter had quit on Toronto and forced a trade to the then-New Jersey Nets in 2004.
DeRozan said it was tough for the Raptors of the early 2010s to see Carter vilified by Toronto fans because all the players had so much respect for him.
"You just want to be able to see him get his flowers and for it to come full circle to tonight with his number being the first number going up — as it should be — it was incredible," said DeRozan.
Rap superstar Drake was in attendance for Saturday's game — Carter shouted him out during his speech — and the Toronto-based performer made his opinion on DeRozan's jersey potentially getting retired by the Raptors very clear when he appeared on TSN's broadcast.
"If you ever put a DeRozan banner up I'll go up there and pull it down myself," said Drake, who is the Raptors global ambassador. "Shout out to Kyle."
DeRozan had a brief cameo in the music video for Kendrick Lamar's "Not Like Us," a vitriol-filled dis track that attacks Drake's character. DeRozan and Lamar both grew up in Compton, Calif.
"He's going to have a long way to climb to take it down," quipped DeRozan when a reporter told him of Drake's comments. "Tell him good luck."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 2, 2024.
John Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press
