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Omer Osman: DeMar DeRozan on if he thinks his #10 will ever be retired by the Toronto Raptors: “I hope so.” “I was honoured enough to be here, to have a game and to see Vince [Carter], the first jersey to go up.” “I most definitely will be here when Kyle [Lowry’s] jersey go up.” “To be able to see people that I know personally, and now somebody I played with, jersey get retired, it means the most.” “Whatever happens after that, we’ll see.”
Omer Osman: DeMar DeRozan on if he still senses love from the fans whenever he plays in Toronto: “Yeah. This’ll always be home for me. 9 years of my career. This was the foundation of me as a basketball player, as a human being. This was my first home. This was the first everything for me. Nothing will ever replace that. Everything that I created with all these guys that’s here, I had the opportunity to play with. For me, it’s always going to be number one.” ❤️
Omer Osman: Kyle Lowry on DeMar DeRozan’s #10 possibly going up in the rafters one day: “Oh yeah, definitely going up there. Without a doubt about it.” “Vince [Carter] was very deserving, and he should’ve been the first one up, and I’m so happy he was.” “Me being the second [jersey number retired], and then, possibly DeMar [DeRozan] being the next one.” “It just shows where the organization and franchise is going, right? It’s trending up, and it’s been trending up a long time. I think the appreciation of the franchise that people have now, is pretty cool.”
Marley Dickinson: The man of the hour — Kyle Lowry Lowry said he was grateful to have a ton of his former #Raptors teammates here, including DeMar DeRozan whose game is apparently “rough.” He was also asked if DeRozan’s No. 10 should be in the rafters one day. Lowry said…100%
Marley Dickinson: I asked DeMar DeRozan what his first impression of Kyle Lowry was before they later became close friends. DeRozan said he hated Kyle at first and described his personality as “an acquired taste.”
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Nikola Jokić, Aaron Gordon and Jamal Murray all called him before he signed with the team, which meant a lot to DeRozan. That played a part in him wanting to sign with the Nuggets. These new teammates, like him, understand what it means to be a veteran — to be conscious of the window getting smaller. “When I came in the league, I never would have imagined or thought I’d be playing that long,” says DeRozan, 37. “And when you get in, you don’t realize how fast and how much time goes by. … It’s a blessing to be able to play this long.”
Sometimes, when he’s alone, taking a beat from the demands of the day, DeMar DeRozan repeats that phrase again and again: It’s almost over. It’s almost over. The phrase reminds him to play with urgency, to cherish this upcoming season, because he is acutely aware he has more time on an NBA court behind him than he does in front of him. “It’s not a negative thing,” DeRozan says. “It’s a beautiful thing. You can’t do this forever, but while you’re in it, give it all you got, so when it’s time to walk away, you’re at ease with everything.”
A college student recently came up to him while he was working out, telling him how much DeRozan’s words made him feel seen. In another instance, a young man came up to him and told him, “You saved my life.” DeRozan’s mind returns to the image of a father. He came up to DeRozan: “My son was suicidal until he heard your story.” “That means the world to me because a lot of times, it’s just me speaking honestly about things I’m going through, things that I may feel,” DeRozan says. “For people to come up to me and acknowledge that means I’m doing the right thing by being vulnerable and putting myself out there to have these conversations because it’s helping somebody. Even if it’s just one person, it’s helpful.”
Nationally, men account for nearly 80 percent of suicide deaths. Young Black men are dying by suicide at higher rates than their White peers for the first time. “We carry so much weight on our shoulders. We sweep so much stuff under the rug, so you don’t even realize how much until you uncover it,” DeRozan says, “and you realize how much hurt, how much pain, how much stuff you compartmentalize. You never know when that breaking point may hit. “The approach I try to take is being vulnerable and letting people know you’re not alone.”
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Bobby Marks: Saturday is the last day to stretch the salary of a waived player. Formula: Years left on the contract multiplied by 2 +1 Jonas Valanciunas: $2M ($666K over 3 years) DeMar DeRozan: $10M ($3.3M over 3 years) John Konchar: $6.165M ($2.05M over 3 years) Cam Whitmore: $5.4M ($1.8M over 3 years) (likely)
Yossi Gozlan: This gets the Kings under the luxury tax line and they now have enough space to fill their last two roster spots with minimum deals without exceeding it. Teams have until Saturday to stretch a player’s 2026-27 salary.
Michael Scotto: The Sacramento Kings are stretching DeMar DeRozan’s remaining $10 million salary for the 2026-27 season, league sources told @hoopshype. As a result, DeRozan will be on Sacramento’s books for $3.33 million each of the following three seasons.
Crazy Stats: Since his sophomore season, DeMar DeRozan has been a starter in every game. That’s 1,250 games (regular season and playoffs), the eighth-longest such streak since starters were first indicated on box scores (1970–71). Will he start for the Nuggets?
