NBA Rumors: New Bulls Swingman Still Remembers Heart-Wrenching Trade To Spurs

DeMar DeRozan is now with his third NBA team since entering the league in 2009.

Most know him as the former top guy with the Toronto Raptors before that surprise trade to the San Antonio Spurs in 2018.

It was a bitter pill to swallow for the four-time All-Star, who formed a strong bond with another former Raptor in Kylie Lowry.

Speaking to Draymond Green via the Bleacher Report, the 32-year-old admitted that learning about the trade to the Spurs hurt him badly.

DeRozan bared he was in Las Vegas at that time and it appeared he would stay in Toronto. That changed two days later.

He was in a movie house watching “Equalizer 2” when his phone suddenly rang. It was Masai Ujiri, the then-executive vice president and general manager of the Raptors.

Seeing that he could not talk, the Raptors executive just told him via text to call him afterward.

But before he called Ujiri, DeRozan already did some checking on social media and the web. It was there where he learned that he had been traded to the Spurs.

When he finally got to talk to Ujiri, he was informed that everything will be made official the next day.

After the call, the 6-foot-6 player just sat outside a Jack-in-the-Box branch for two hours.

He admitted that it was one of the toughest times of his career. It was also why he does not watch Denzel Washington's “Equalizer 2,” apparently because it brings back dark memories.

The Raptors, as most know, went on to win their first NBA title with Kawhi Leonard.

But since that NBA title triumph, Toronto has found itself struggling to repeat.

As for DeRozan, he has shown improvement in his game under the tutelage of Gregg Popovich.

It was something that Toronto Raptors Superfan Nav Bhatia had envisioned and shared it when he appeared on the Sports for All PH podcast back in May hosted by Filipino journalists Vincent Juico and Brian Yalung.

“You know what, kudos to him. I cried when he was traded. But I also told him that coach Popovich is going to take his game to the next level,” Bhatia said at the time.

Now, he brings a more seasoned version of himself to the Chicago Bulls, which makes fans of the franchise optimistic about their chances of making that far in the postseason.