DeMar DeRozan has opened up about the major trade that sent him from Toronto to San Antonio last week, and it is clear he is not happy about the way things went down.
The trade, which sent DeRozan, Jakob Poeltl and a first-round pick to the Spurs for Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green, came as a shock to many, including DeRozan. During an interview with ESPN’s Chris Haynes, DeRozan vented his frustration over being kept in the dark regarding the trade.
“I felt like I wasn’t treated — what I sacrificed for nine years, with the respect that I thought I deserved,” DeRozan told Haynes. “By just giving me the say-so of letting me know something’s going on, or there’s a chance. That’s all I wanted. I’m not saying you don’t have to trade me. Just let me know something’s going on, because I sacrificed everything. Just let me know. That’s all I ask.”
#Spurs guard DeMar DeRozan (@DeMar_DeRozan) says he was treated unfairly by #Raptors’ Masai Ujiri in the sense that he was kept in the dark about the trade process. Essentially says he just wanted to know what was going on if a trade was going to go down. pic.twitter.com/L5rNWBED2x
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) July 25, 2018
DeRozan also said he felt Raptors president Masai Ujiri’s reasons for making the deal were “B.S.”
DeRozan tells ESPN: "I gave everything I had to that team. Every single day and night, whatever was asked from me to make us better. And it showed… So when (Ujiri) put that out there saying 'gave them chances' and 'I have to do something'… it's B.S. to me."
— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) July 25, 2018
DeRozan was drafted by the Raptors in 2009 and went on to become a four-time All-Star and one of the best players in franchise history. There were always going to be hard feelings over any deal involving him, but there seems to be extra backlash towards Toronto. We’re getting a sense of why that is the case.
