DeMar DeRozan had a great 15-year NBA career.
He is coming off another productive season with the Chicago Bulls, where he averaged 24.0 points, 4.3 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.1 steals per game while shooting 48.0 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from three-point range in 79 games.
During the offseason, DeRozan left the Bulls to sign with the Sacramento Kings.
DeRozan spent three seasons playing for the San Antonio Spurs (before joining Chicago in 2021).
Recently, the six-time NBA All-Star spoke with Sam Amick of The Athletic about his time at Spurs.
DeRozan via Amick’s article on The Athletic: “Everything about this place, it’s hard to put into words. They treated me like I was Tim Duncan. And that’s the respect, love and admiration I’ll always have for Pop and that whole organization. There’s a lot of things they didn’t have to do for me, and there’s a lot of things I didn’t even ask for. You have to give them all the credit, because they’re truly special people.”
DeMar DeRozan Unplugged: On his (wonderful) new book, why he chose to be so vulnerable for the sake of the mental health cause, and all sorts of fascinating Spurs/Lakers/Clippers subplots from his summer that brought him to Sacramento, California. @TheAthletic https://t.co/mn19UAtxaq
— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) September 11, 2024
DeRozan averaged 21.6 points, 5.3 rebounds, 6.2 assists and 1.0 steals per game while shooting 50.1 percent from the field and 22.7 percent from three-point range in 206 regular-season games with the Spurs.
They made the NBA playoffs in the 2019 season.
DeMar DeRozan says Spurs treated him ‘like he was Tim Duncan’. 🩶 pic.twitter.com/4iNeUIvKJL
— leScore (@theScore) September 12, 2024
The Spurs have failed to qualify for the NBA playoffs in the previous five years (since the 2019 season).
In addition to the Spurs and Bulls, DeRozan also spent time with the Toronto Raptors.