DeMar DeRozan is reflecting on one of the most difficult moments of his career—and the unexpected reaction he got from a close friend.
Speaking on the 7PM in Brooklyn podcast, the six-time All-Star detailed the night he was traded from the Toronto Raptors to the San Antonio Spurs in 2018. The move, which sent Kawhi Leonard to Toronto, came as a shock to DeRozan, who had spent his entire career with the Raptors up to that point.
“I get traded from Toronto in the middle of the night,” DeRozan said, via HoopsHype. “I’m sick. I’m hot. I’m walking down the street. I’m sitting in a fast food parking lot.”
He described reaching out to just two people that night—Kyle Lowry and Rudy Gay.
Lowry, his longtime backcourt partner in Toronto, was his first call. Then he dialed Gay, who was a Spurs forward at the time.
“I said, ‘Yeah, bro. These people just traded me.’ And he’s laughing on the phone,” DeRozan recalled.
According to DeRozan, Gay didn’t just laugh once. When told that the trade would send him to San Antonio, the laughter continued.
“Yeah, he laughed twice. So he laughed at me twice,” DeRozan said. “The second laugh, I hung up on his ass.”
Gay, sitting beside him during the podcast, confirmed the story and grinned as he admitted he couldn’t help but laugh.
Despite the difficult transition, DeRozan went on to average 21.6 points per game during his three seasons with San Antonio before signing with the Chicago Bulls in 2021.
