DeMar DeRozan on getting recruited to play for Warriors: F— no, I’m not coming to play with y’all

DeRozan was without a home during the summer of 2021, and Green tried to bring the five-time All-Star to the Warriors. Green and DeRozan are good friends, and Green says he went from checking in with DeRozan daily to trying to recruit him to the Dubs. “The conversation turned to ‘Come to the Warriors’ and you were like, ‘F—, no. I’m not coming there. I’m not coming to play with y’all,'” Green said in an interview with DeRozan on Green’s podcast, “The Draymond Green Show.” -via Sporting News / July 29, 2022

An open advocate for mental health, DeRozan has been open about his previous battles with anxiety and depression. Similar feelings of angst crept in as he journeyed into another unknown space. “Big names always kinda sign in the first day or two,” he said. “I went a couple days into free agency with still such a question mark. Was I gonna go somewhere on a one-year deal? Was I gonna take the minimum? The narrative of it … it put me in such a f***** up place. I remember through that whole time it was three, four days I didn’t leave out the room. I didn’t see the sunset, I didn’t see the sun come up … I was depressed, it put me in a depressed mindset cause I didn’t know what the f*** was gonna happen.” -via Sports Illustrated / July 29, 2022

“For me, my three years in San Antonio … it was a such a question mark for me of trying to figure out the next phase of myself,” DeRozan said. “Being in a place for so long – obviously Toronto – and feeling like the franchise and all of a sudden you get knocked down back to humble beginnings. Doubt come in, questions come in, especially when you see a certain type of narrative that follow you, ‘can’t do this, this, this, this’ all down the line. It takes a toll on you.” -via Sports Illustrated / July 29, 2022