{"id":64425,"date":"2025-05-29T19:05:13","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T19:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/64425\/"},"modified":"2025-05-29T19:05:13","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T19:05:13","slug":"demar-derozan-reveals-how-key-figure-helped-prolong-his-nba-career-he-evolved-his-game-on-and-off-the-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/64425\/","title":{"rendered":"DeMar DeRozan reveals how key figure helped prolong his NBA career, he evolved his game on and off the court"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

DeMar DeRozan has made two All-Star Games since being traded from the Toronto Raptors, and he credits one legendary figure with helping to save his career. <\/p>\n

DeMar DeRozan<\/a>, despite playing for three other teams, is best known for his nine seasons with the Toronto Raptors<\/a>, where he started his career, blossomed into an All-Star, and became the franchise\u2019s all-time leading scorer.<\/p>\n

However, after nine seasons, he was traded to the San Antonio Spurs<\/a> for Kawhi Leonard in a deal that is solely responsible for winning Toronto its lone title in 2019<\/a>. <\/p>\n

DeRozan has been open that the trade left him feeling betrayed, although he has since found a silver lining and credits the deal with prolonging his career.<\/p>\n

\"SanPhoto by Michael Reaves\/Getty ImagesGregg Popovich helped DeRozan expand his game<\/p>\n

Before being traded to the Spurs, DeRozan was one of the very best scorers in the game, although his style was very one-dimensional. He was not a great defender, nor could he facilitate or make shots from deep. Instead, he thrived in the midrange and in the paint, scoring with volume close to the basket.<\/p>\n

That wouldn\u2019t fly in San Antonio under Gregg Popovich\u2019s<\/a> team-first system.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the first shoot-arounds we had, bro, I\u2019ll never forget, this man said, \u2018Yeah, we gonna do this, DeMar\u2019s the point guard,\u2019 and I was like, I said, \u2018What man, I ain\u2019t no f\u2014\u2014 point guard, what you mean I\u2019m the point guard?\u2019 he revealed. <\/p>\n

The Spurs, by trading Leonard, signaled the end of their dynasty, although with DeRozan, LaMarcus Aldridge, Rudy Gay, and Derrick White, they had enough talent to remain competitive.<\/p>\n

Dejounte Murray missed all of DeRozan\u2019s first season in San Antonio with injury, leaving a hole at point guard. Popovich, unconventionally, slotted the forward into the lead guard spot<\/a>, and he blossomed. <\/p>\n

\u201cLater down the line, I figured that he did that to challenge me on understanding how to make everybody else around me better, because I was always caught up in thinking of being the scorer first,\u201d DeRozan continued. <\/p>\n

\u201cI remember my first month, month and a half, I was like top three, four in assists in the league, because it was like, he had me understand, three and a half quarters, dominate, making your teammates better.\u201d<\/p>\n

During DeRozan\u2019s three seasons with the Spurs, he set career-high marks in assists and likely would have made multiple All-Star teams had the Spurs simply been better<\/a>, although Popovich\u2019s impact went beyond the court. <\/p>\n

\"SacramentoPhoto by Sarah Stier\/Getty ImagesDeRozan reveals what made Popovich different<\/p>\n

During his coaching tenure, Popovich embraced the person, not the player. This isn\u2019t exactly a revelation, although it\u2019s more apparent with DeRozan than anyone else. <\/p>\n

DeRozan\u2019s father died in February of 2021, leaving DeMar without a key figure in his life. Popovich helped guide him through the grief, and whenever DeRozan returned to San Antonio to play against the Spurs, he would embrace Popovich both before and after the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis approach with me wasn\u2019t basketball, it was the humility that he brought with being a coach, that he established right away, that made me feel like, man I run through a wall for this motherf\u2014\u2013, I ain\u2019t even put on a Spurs jersey, you know what I mean?\u201d said DeRozan while reflecting on his first few weeks with the Spurs.<\/p>\n

In 2024, DeRozan published a book, \u201cAbove the Noise: My Story of Chasing Calm,\u201d which highlighted his struggle with mental health. Popovich wrote the foreword and was apparently thrilled that DeRozan was focusing on things bigger than basketball.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

DeRozan has had his career revitalized<\/p>\n

While DeRozan certainly peaked as a player during his time with the Raptors<\/a>, his time with the Spurs has prolonged his career. His shot and playmaking improved, and as he ages and loses athleticism, Popovich\u2019s tutelage has allowed him to remain an All-Star well into his 30s.<\/p>\n

SpanPPGAPGFG%3PT%Before Spurs (Nine Seasons)19.73.144.8%28.8%After Spurs (Seven Seasons)23.45.549.5%31.6%DeMar DeRozan Career Stats<\/p>\n

The Spurs only made the playoffs once during DeRozan\u2019s three-season tenure, and having him play point guard is not conducive to winning, although he can lead an offense for spot minutes and add offensive versatility in San Antonio. <\/p>\n

While the Raptors, led by DeRozan and Kyle Lowry, might have been able to make the Finals in a LeBron James-less East in 2019, Toronto needed to make some sort of move to bolster their roster and add star power, and DeRozan was the odd man out.<\/p>\n

While getting shipped to San Antonio was less than ideal, DeRozan was able to make the most of the situation, prolonging his peak and career. <\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DeMar DeRozan has made two All-Star Games since being traded from the Toronto Raptors, and he credits one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64426,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3792],"tags":[7,3213,3349,4056,6,986,477,4055,474,574],"class_list":{"0":"post-64425","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sacramento-kings","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-demar-derozan","10":"tag-gregg-popovich","11":"tag-kings","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-sacramento","14":"tag-sacramento-kings","15":"tag-sacramentokings","16":"tag-san-antonio-spurs","17":"tag-western-conference"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114592686503922702","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64425\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}