DeMar DeRozan available?

DeMar DeRozan describes his mother, Diane, simply. “She’s everything,” the Chicago Bulls star said. His best friend. His dog. His rider. Their bond runs deep, and DeRozan marvels at how his appreciation for her grows stronger each year. He knows how much she’s been through and how much she’s done for him. From her losing siblings to the streets, to birthing him later in life, to battling lupus, to her overprotection and tough love, DeRozan knows his mother never had it easy. But she was always there. -via The Athletic / May 12, 2023

DeMar DeRozan: She taught me how to be resilient and never fear anything. Always keep my head up. In the darkest of times, in the hardest of moments, always keep my head up. I remember I’d come home, and when I’d walk in the door if my head was down, she always used to tell me how to keep my head high. Never let nobody see you sweat. Never let nobody see you with worry on your face no matter what it is — and I always carried that. She treated me like a teenager before I was a teenager, and it helped me mature so much. That’s part of the reason I’m so calm and so laid-back to this point now because I grew up around much older individuals. They just exposed me to so much early on that helped me understand life. -via The Athletic / May 12, 2023

During ESPN’s alternative broadcast of Game 3 between the Phoenix Suns and Denver Nuggets Friday, Stephen A. Smith contended that the Raptors would’ve won the Eastern Conference had the DeRozan-for-Leonard trade never happened. DeRozan agreed with that assessment. “Most definitely,” DeMar DeRozan told Smith. “It sucks that we couldn’t see what could have happened with me still being there. That just changes the whole dynamic & everything. But I definitely felt that.” -via Clutch Points / May 6, 2023