DeMar DeRozan will be one of the more coveted free agents after the season, but it sounds like he has no intention of leaving Toronto.
The Raptors guard, now in his seventh NBA season out of USC, has emerged into an All-Star and franchise cornerstone. Though teams will want him — and a report said the Lakers were planning to offer him max money — DeRozan says his heart is with Toronto, saying it would be “pretty tough” to leave.
“My whole mindset has always been this is home for me,” DeRozan said in an interview with ESPN Radio. “I never think otherwise unless it’s brought up to me, or you see things, or people ask you about certain things.
“This has always been home to me. I took pride in putting on this Toronto Raptors jersey since I’ve been drafted here. And my whole goal was to get this team to the point where it is now. And I feel I’ve been a major key to that.”
He certainly has been. In two of DeRozan’s first three seasons with the Raptors, the team won fewer than 23 games. But the team won 47 games two seasons ago, 48 last season, and they’re on pace to improve on that mark with a 35-17 record this season. With the trajectory of the team going up, it makes sense for DeRozan to continue where he has been and try getting the Raptors to make a deep playoff run.
