DeMar DeRozan isn’t very much amused on his time representing the San Antonio Spurs for three seasons.
DeRozan said that he thought of being “irrelevant” wearing the Silver and Black gears, mainly due to the lack of national television exposure and the little amount of competitive talent around the roster.
“I felt like I was wiped off the map. … That took a toll, especially [after] every single year going to the conference finals, conference semifinals, competing, winning 50-plus games, to all the sudden, you don’t exist,” DeRozan said on the Old Man and the Three podcast. “It was like, ‘Damn, what’s this? Hey, I’m here.’ That’s what I felt like.
“Granted, I had great games. I developed in a lot of great ways as a basketball player, but in the same token, I just felt nonexistent for those years. It wasn’t like we was on TV, we wasn’t competing. There was so much to it that was a struggle. … I just felt like I was irrelevant.”
DeRozan was shipped to Texas from the intents of the Toronto Raptors taking a gamble on then-disgruntled Kawhi Leonard. He then spent the next three basketball campaigns with the franchise, but only managed to appear in one postseason year.
As a small market team, San Antonio is very much notable for its lack of national media exposure. In DeRozan’s three seasons with the Spurs, he was only given 19 total appearances being televised by giant networks. As such, in his final season in 2020-21, the club wasn’t granted even one.
As such, his arrival in the Chicago Bulls presented him with a new opportunity to shine under the bright lights. He had a season of renaissance for the franchise with 27.9 points, 5.2 boards, 4.2 assists average while leading them back to the playoff arena for the first time since 2017.
