Come at DeMar DeRozan at your own peril.
A content creator by the name of Carson Breber appeared to take a shot at the Toronto Raptors’ all-time leading scorer on Thursday afternoon, expressing his displeasure that DeRozan is on track to surpass legend Shaquille O’Neal if he keeps playing for another couple seasons.
The tweet went viral with over 13,000 likes, which would have likely then helped it come across the timeline of the man himself. DeRozan didn’t take kindly to the tweet at all, to say the least.
“Disturbing!? F*** that mean? Who the hell is you to have an opinion on somebody career? Clown!”
Breber didn’t back down from DeRozan’s criticism, bashing his impact on the court versus off the court for the teams he’s represented.
“I think it’s weird that your teams have been better with you off the court for your entire career and you are probably going to end up with more career points than Shaq. That’s what it means.”
DeRozan’s response came swiftly, stating, “And it’s weird you live behind a computer, dweeb!”
Breber also posted a screenshot from Basketball Reference highlighting DeRozan’s on/off metrics to try and emphasize his point.
DeRozan is now 18th on the NBA’s all-time scoring list with 26,711 points entering play on Friday, of which 13,296 came as a Raptor. He’s 1,885 points behind O’Neal in 10th, though cracking the top 10 isn’t a guarantee with current teammate Russell Westbrook ahead of him in 14th and still adding to his total.
Many responded to Breber, pointing out that his comments were both disrespectful and not in good taste.
Basketball fans defend DeMar DeRozan (Credit: Twitter/X)
Through one small lens, the point Breber tries to make can be seen. It would be a little quirky to see DeRozan’s name ahead of O’Neal’s one day on the all-time scoring list. But quirky or surprising or unexpected is a long way from “deeply disturbing.”
No one uses the all-time scoring list as a definitive marker of the true greatness of a player. No one will think any lesser of O’Neal if they see him below DeRozan on the all-time scoring list one day. O’Neal will always have his multiple Finals MVP trophies and status as arguably the most dominant player in modern league history.
DeRozan’s longevity and consistency is something to be celebrated, not be used as an excuse to bash his flaws as a player. He has his flaws, of that there is no doubt, but his standing in the all-time scoring list has never been a reason to magnify that.
The best example of why trying to associate the greatness of a player with an all-time scoring list makes little sense is the fact that DeRozan and Steph Curry are from the same draft class and DeRozan is currently ahead of the Golden State Warriors superstar.
Curry is 20th on the NBA all-time scoring list with 26,493 points and currently over 200 points behind DeRozan but no one has ever considered Curry to be a worse player than DeRozan.
Funnily enough, DeRozan and the Sacramento Kings will play the Warriors on Apr. 10 in their second-last game of the regular season. The Kings then close out the season on the road against the Portland Trail Blazers to conclude DeRozan’s 17th season.
If DeRozan does indeed play another two seasons and surpass more names on the scoring list, his 19 seasons in the league will be more reason to admire his longevity.
Only 12 players in NBA history have played more than 19 seasons, including his former teammate Kyle Lowry who is expected to retire at the end of this season with 20 years in the books.