DeMar DeRozan Thought About Joining The Lakers or Clippers | FULL INTERVIEW (Chips)

Bittersweet moment, watching Kyle win a championship, uh, watching the city that you love winning a championship, but yet at the same time, flipping on your phone and seeing people say, “Well, DeMar left and Kawhi came in and that's why they won. ” Take me through that. - Man, HBO Max, partner and a sponsor in "Chips.

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” You know, when doing a show like this, I think the most fun part for me is when I am able to have friends of mine on. So I'm welcoming the special guest today. My brother, DeMar DeRozan.

What's up, brother? - What's up, dawg? Appreciate you for having me.

- There were many stories linking you to LeBron, linking you to the Lakers. Then I saw something link you to the Clippers. And ultimately, you know, I had said in my mind, like, there's a high possibility, you know, you, you may want to go back home.

Uh, most importantly, just to be close to Moms obviously, uh, with Pops passing away, which, again, sorry for the loss. I know that's tough. I can't imagine.

Um, ultimately you decided to go to Chicago. Why did you end up saying, all right. You know what?

I'm not doing that. Um, was it those two teams didn't have the right amount of money? Was it you just saw an opportunity in Chicago?

What was— - Yeah, I mean, it was, it was a real possibility. Um, I mean, I'd be lying to you if I didn't say I wanted to come on, you know? I did try to make it happen.

There's a real possibility on it happening. Um, you know, just things didn't work out, you know what I mean? But, you know, um, Chicago was always in my top five.

That was always on my radar. You know what I mean? They make the move to get Lonzo.

Great pickup. Been a fan of his. And, and you see the narrative change with Zach wanting to stay if I came and obviously Vuc there and, you know, we just build off that to where it's like, all right, this thing would really be a possibility.

Then on the back end of it, it's a hell of a city, hell of a city. - Absolutely. Hell of an organization to where, like, you get this thing winning here, It's, it's—come on.

- Let's talk about the journey. Uh, start, you know, growing up in Compton. Just take me back to those days.

And how did Compton shape who you are today? - Um, I mean, obviously growing up in the environment you grew up in, no matter how bad or how good a situation may be growing up in it, you think it's normal? - Mmhmm.

- You know, you try to be a kid as long as you can, but it kind of forced you to grow up quick. The city built me, made me resilient; at the same time, gave me the imagination to want to do something bigger than just be in a neighborhood. - You're still back there all the time.

You're still showing love to, to where you come from. I mean, you're, you're essentially still just one of the guys. - For me, I remember being a kid and I remember seeing like, uh, a terrible NBA player, like, the, the 15th guy on the roster.

I remember seeing him at a young age in L. A. , and it felt like I just seen Jesus Christ.

- Mmhmm. - It gave me hope. And it gave a lot of people around me hope.

So for me, I always just try to go back and just be normal. And a lot of time not even be on some preaching stuff. Just to be around just to be around.

- You had opportunities to go play in other places, further outside of L. A. , probably to Oak Hill or anywhere else.

Why was it so important to you to stay home and go to your public high school? - Um, I'd be lying, lying to you if I told you, like, I wasn't scared to leave home. Like, I was scared as shit.

Like, I was terrified, you know what I mean? - Which is funny. - Like, this, this was all I knew, you know what I mean?

Family, friends, everything. I couldn't imagine going to Oak Hill. You know what I mean?

I was terrified, you know what I mean? Then secondly, it was like, man, this is where I’m from. My high school is terrible.

You know, it's down the street from my house. I can walk there. It's a terrible school to go to, but it was just the challenge in me saying like, man, let me go here and just try to make something out of it.

- It's funny as hell to hear you sit here and say I was terrified to leave Compton. Most people are terrified to go to Compton. - Right.

Yeah. - Then you can go to any college in America and you decide to go to USC. You know, USC is USC, but even at the time you was leaving to go there, it wasn't viewed as a basketball powerhouse, and you could've went anywhere.

Why USC? - Same reason. Same reason, bro.

I was terrified to leave home. And the crazy thing with that, even when I went to USC, I had such a culture shock. My first three months in college, I still was living in Compton.

- Really? - I still, I still was back and forth, you know? - And how far is that?

- Twenty-five minutes. - OK. - You know what I mean?

I still was back and forth because I was just—just the culture shock was just completely something I couldn't, like, adjust to, you know what I mean? - Mmhmm. - So that just goes back to me just being terrified to leave home.

You know what I mean? - So as a, as a kid, essentially, 18, 19 years old, heading into the draft, it's possible you could end up in Michigan. You could end up in Florida, Louisiana.

Not only do you end up far away from L. A. You end up in another country.

- Complete other country, bro. - Take me there. Take me draft night, getting drafted to Toronto.

What's the first thing that go to your, go through your mind? - I didn't have a passport. I didn't have none of that shit.

Threw me off. Like, damn, nobody I know has a passport. - You go through draft night, you get to draft night, you get drafted by Toronto and you still don't have a passport?

- I got my passport two days before the draft - Wow. - to go to Toronto. I remember going up there by myself that next morning.

Go to Toronto. I'm seeing shit in an airport in French. I'm like, I'm like losing it.

You know, you know how it is. - Yeah. - There go, like, the whole culture shock all over again.

You know what I mean? And this time around it's somewhere where I can't just go home. You know what I mean?

I didn't have nobody with me. I was by myself. I remember I was still wearing Chucks in the wintertime.

I didn't know how to dress. - Never been to the cold. - I’d never been to the cold.

I’d never been to the cold. - Mm. - Nobody there to really teach me.

I'm the only rookie on the team. So it ain't like I got somebody I can hang with at all times and blah, blah, blah. So it was a, it was a shock, you know what I mean?

And luckily at one point, Jarrett Jack took me in and really helped me get through my rookie year. Him, Chris Bosh, Reggie Evans, those guys really took me in and kind of helped me because, bra, I was, I was lost for a minute. You know what I mean?

I was lost. - What's so interesting about that is most people don't understand. They hear you saying, like, I got drafted to Toronto, but at that time, 13 years ago, Toronto is not what it is today.

So you walking through the airport. There’s French signs on the highway, It's like, it's very Americanized now. - Yeah.

Yes. - But at that time— - It was tough, bro. I ain't gonna lie.

It was, it was, it was the toughest time that was necessary for me because I hadn't really been snatched away to be like, huh, figure it out. - Mmhmm. - You know what I mean?

I always had that crutch to go back home and be back home. So my whole entire year I was by myself. I didn't have family with me, nothing.

Like, I was by myself, figuring it out. - You signed a new deal: four years, $38 million. And at that time, by the way, at that time, four years, 38 is a lot of money in the NBA.

- That was a lot. A lot. A lot.

- During that same time you signed the same amount Steph, uh, Ty Lawson. - Who else was there? - Jrue Holiday.

Um, a lot of y'all at the same time sign, like, the same deal. And that's when that was a lot of money in the NBA. That's life-changing money.

- Yeah. - How did you adapt to that? - For me, it was more so like, just not like—I wanted to be respected as a player.

Not by the amount of money that I'm getting, you know what I mean? And I think when that happened, I kinda had a different type of chip on my shoulder. It pushed me to a different type of level to where like, damn the money.

Now I just got to step up to another level. - Mmhmm. - You know what I mean?

Like, I got that. I'm not even worried about that. I'm not even speaking on that.

I just wanted to be the player and be respected by my peers on the court. - We fast forward a little bit. Time in Toronto, leading scorer, breaking many records, All-Star, all that, which is by the way, people don't understand, you know, there's the documentary on Vince Carter and how that helped grow Toronto basketball.

But then you come right after that and building everything up, being a cornerstone of the franchise. You meet your best friend, Kyle Lowry. Y'all did great things in Toronto expecting to keep building and keep going up.

And then you're traded eventually. How did you feel about that process and where did that take you with the game of basketball? - Um, with the whole process, it was like, you know, you—my whole mindset was to build Toronto up to be a respected team because I played my first couple years, motherfuckers used to come in there, especially on the weekend games, it'd be like, you know, should we go on out night before?

We playin’ the Raptors at one o'clock on a Sunday. That’s a sure win. We out all night.

We winnin’. You know what I mean? - Mmhmm.

- Like, teams used to come in with that mentality. So for me, it was always personal. Like, I wanted us to be respected, the organization be respected, the city be respected.

When the situation happened to me, just getting traded, it hurt. It hurt like shit because, you know, my whole mindset was like, yo, I'm riding, I'm riding and dying. Like, like, only way I don't want accomplish what I'm trying to accomplish here is if, if, if, if it's on a stretcher.

That was my mentality. So when it happened, it hit me hard. You know what I mean?

Like, a lot of people always think like, you know, I was bitter, I was this and all this, like, nah, it fucked me up because people don't know how much I had put into it. You know, the conversations I had with players, with coaches, the long nights and long days playing through all type of shit. You know what I mean?

- Mmhmm. - So I don't know how much better on and off the court you could find an individual that's going to give it they all, you know what I mean? - Mmhmm.

- Like, I didn't care about the politics. I didn't care about—all it was about was the fans and basketball, but it, it, it taught me a valuable lesson of the business that we in. - Mmhmm.

- You know what I mean? That we all expendable at some point, you know what I mean? - Facts.

- We only have a short window to do what we do. You know, it's only a handful of guys that could control they whole destiny through they whole career. You know what I mean?

And I read before, that right before that or something you met with Masai or you - Yeah. - talked with Masai. He told you you weren't getting traded.

How long between y'all conversation and you getting traded? - Two days. - Two days?

- Two days. Um, it was two days. I went to Vegas.

We all met. We had, had a fucking dinner, you know, have a sit-down and have a conversation about like, all right, we about to do this thing. We're about to give it one more shot, blah, blah, blah.

And two days later, you get a call. That was the shit that hurt. Like, tell me beforehand, like, look, it's a possibility we think about doing this.

Cool. You know what I mean? - And your call come from who?

- Masai. - He tell you you traded? - Yeah.

He calls me, so, one, I'm in a movie theaters. To this day, I do not watch this movie, right? - What's the movie?

- “Equalizer 2. ” My phone keep ringing. It's Masai.

I'm like, what the fuck? So he texted me and said, “Deebo, give me a call when you get a chance. ” So I’m like, “All right.

Cool. ” So soon as I send a text back, I get on the Gram. I'm like, I don't see nothin’ on the Gram.

I'm on Twitter. I'm Googling shit. So I'm like, all right.

I don't see, like, you know, he's just in my mind. So I leave the movie theater. I get in the car.

Call him back. He didn't answer. I'm like, probably ain't nothin’.

He call me back. And, he just, you know, ask how was the movie? Like, some casual shit?

You know what I mean? Like, so I’m like, “The movie was cool. Yeah, what's up?

” He was like, “Yeah. We just traded you to San Antonio. I just want to let you know it’s going to come out in the morning.

” And I was like, literally, bro, I touched the driver. I said, “Stop the car. ” I got out the car and just walked down the street, hung up the phone, sat outside at a Jack in the Box or Del Taco for like two hours.

Swear to God. Swear to God. I called two people.

I called Kyle. He was, he was shocked about it. He didn't know.

Then I called, I called Rudy and told him like, “Yo, I just got traded. ” He said, “To where? ” I said, “San Antonio.

” He started laughing, right? I'm like, “Fuck you. ” I hung up the phone.

Like, you want to laugh? Well, fuck you. But you know what I mean?

But it was, it was, it was one of the toughest times ever because I didn't really have, like, no guidance with this shit. You know what I mean? - Mmhmm.

- Like, nobody helped me. And I, I wasn't going to talk to nobody about it. You know what I mean?

I would just, I just wanted to take it all in and figure it out as it, as it went, you know what I mean? But it was tough. It was tough.

- With you leaving the Raptors, Kawhi going to the Raptors, it feels very similar to us and Steve Kerr and Mark Jackson. You know, whereas like there's always this question of, well, if Mark was still there—which, the year he got fired, we won a championship— would they have won a championship? And there is no right or wrong answer.

If you were still there and Kawhi is still in San Antonio, does the Raptors end up in that same position? Bittersweet moment, watching Kyle win a championship, uh, watching the city that you love winning a championship, but yet at the same time, flipping on your phone and seeing people say, “Well, DeMar left and Kawhi came in and that's why they won. ” Take me through that.

- It was definitely a part of me, you know, feeling the way I'd be, you know, it'd be lying. It was a part of me saying like, yo, those guys out there are my partners. Like, these my brothers.

Like, Kyle, Freddie, Pascal, OG, like Norm, all those guys on that team was my dawgs. Like, you know what I mean? We was, we was like that, and I stayed in constant communication with them.

You know what I mean? And everyone would tell you, like, after every game, if it was a good game or a bad game, I was the first one to hit 'em. You know what I mean?

But, at the same time, you know, you don't want to look at shit social media-wise because everything was in a comparison of, like, oh, DeMar went and did this, or this week, you know what I mean? - Mmhmm. - Everything that was happening, it was frustrating because I kept getting pulled into it.

- Mmhmm. - You know what I mean? So once they get to the Finals, just like, "Oh, DeMar never could get 'em to the Finals.

" This, this, and that whole narrative was just frustrating to where it was like, all right, them social media. So by the time they got to the Finals, I think I ended up, like, leaving out of the country and just getting away from everything and everybody in my phone. I'm happy to this day, like, I'm happy for the city.

I'm happy for, you know, for those guys that won it and everything, but you know, of course that was my—my goal was to be the one to make that happen. You know what I mean? But, you know, like, it is what it is.

- Do you feel because of the way that played out, because they went on to win a championship, do you feel more pressure to win a championship now for you? - I wouldn't necessarily say more pressure. Like, I feel the same because, you know, at the end of the day, like my ultimate goal is to win one.

But, you know, it's crazy because whether they won it, every time somebody won it, you know, shit, when y'all won it. Like, my relationship with you - Mmm. - was like, damn, my dog got a ring.

He got two rings. He got three. Like, you know what I mean?

- Mmhmm. - Like, same with Klay. Like, the people that I could go back and look at, like, where we came from.

It's, like, you got rings. So it's like, you know, you wanna be part of that group of guys. - Mmhmm.

- You know what I mean? Like, that's the end goal, you know what I mean? So whether they won it or not, like, my.

. . every year it feels like you need it more.

Like, shit, we don't play this shit forever. You know what I mean? - Yeah.

- It's like, once you get it out of the way it's, like, all right, cool, you can breathe now, you know what I mean? - Yeah. Facts.

- For sure, you know what I mean? But when you, like, damn, it's my 13th year. I ain't got one.

What's goin' on? You know what I mean? - Mmhmm.

So in dealing with all of this, you've been very outspoken about mental health. Where is it now? Have you, have you seen changes in the way people are operating with it?

Is it kinda the same as it's still, you know, an unthought of thing in the league? Where is that now in, in the progression, since you first started speaking on it? - The conversation and the topic and the narrative is definitely a priority.

So with that being a priority, it definitely made so much progress because before then, you know, especially in our sport, it was never talked about. You know, nobody never talked about the situation that we all have. For one, we come into the league with so much trauma that we don't even identify with from our childhood.

You know what I mean? - Mmhmm. - But we suppress it and forget about it so easy because all of a sudden now we rich.

- Mmhmm. - But now with us all of a sudden getting money, now we have a new set of problems. - Yeah.

- We haven't even uncovered the whole shit we went through 20 years prior. You know what I mean? - Mmhmm.

- Now we forced to be in a spotlight. Have fame, have money, have attention to have even more temptations and more problems that come with that, that we gathering more fucking bullshit that, like, will build up unconsciously, and you will see outbursts or certain, you know, reactions from people, and you wonder why? At our age, bro, like, we was taught to be tough.

- Absolutely. Fucking power through everything. - Yeah.

Like, man, fuck all that shit you going through you. You gotta get through this shit. - Mmhmm.

- Ain't no crying. You better suck it up and keep going. You know what I mean?

- Mmhmm. - Like, but, you know, we both fathers now, and you see the difference on how to be with your own children because, you know, shit, that's not necessarily a right way. You know what I mean?

- Yeah. Yeah. - That's not the right way.

And my biggest thing is just having players in our position share stories that they went through because that shit is inspiring to the next generation. You know what I mean? It's a different type of, you know, inspiration that you give and confidence that you give that, you know, these kids knowing that it's OK, you know what I mean?

- Mmhmm. - It’s OK. You going to go through this, but now identify with it and understand it, so you don't fall victim to, you know, the aggression and wondering why you had this aggression or this hatred or this or your, your confidence, not there, or your insecurities and all this stuff that could come with it.

Mental health does not discriminate on nobody in life. - Mmhmm. - You know what I mean?

I realized that as Black men, we always felt like we was in competition with one another. Like, I'm not about to let you know what I'm going through. - Yeah.

- For what? Like, you probably use that against me. You know what I mean?

- Mmhmm. - Instead of understanding like, what's going on, bro? Like, it just bounce off conversations and realize how much shit you could get off each other's chest that tomorrow you're going to take a different approach with something that you normally do that bothers you and approach it the right way to get through it easier.

You know what I mean? - Absolutely. Nike recently gave every Nike employee, I think, a week off.

Um, and it was centered around their mental health. Like, everybody take a week and kind of gather yourself recharged. We saw an instance like that last season where Kyrie essentially went on a hiatus.

I think it was maybe seven to 10 days of where he's like, no, I'm just not mentally in a good place. - Yeah. - And I need to step away from basketball.

Is that something that the NBA need, like similar to what Nike just did? Because, you know, we get an All-Star break, right? But number one, if you're an All-Star, it's not a break.

- Not a break, yeah. - Do you see that as something that's coming to the league that need to be in the league as someone who has struggled with mental health? Do we need a mental health week?

- Yeah. And I think that comes with a conversation of asking what guys need. Everybody needs something different.

You know what I mean? Like for me, my hoopin’ is my therapeutic relief. You know what I mean?

- Mmhmm. - Sometimes I, I just want to be out there hoop, you know what I mean? Like, like in, in be around that type of environment, you know what I mean?

- Mmhmm. - That's, that's, that's for me. Some people may be different to where, like, I just need to step away and not see a basketball for, you know, a certain amount of days, you know what I mean?

I think that's a conversation that should be had around people who understand what they need so they don't fall in that, in that black hole. - What is the happiest you've been playing basketball? - Basketball, it's always made me happy.

Just the opportunity to play, honestly, bro. I never take it for granted, bro. And it’s like, just knowing where I came from.

Just knowing that I'm able to be in the league this long. Like, that's my happy place. It's one day we going to have to hang this motherfucker up.

- Facts. - So every time I get a chance to play, it's like, yo, this, you gotta enjoy it. You gotta enjoy it.

- How much longer you wanna go? - Fasho not no 20 years. I ain't trying to play no 20.

I can't do 20, you know? I ain't trying to—hey, I don't know, bro. I don't even want to put a number on it, but 20 is a long time.

- It’s a long time. - I definitely don't want to be playing at 40. I don't want to be 40 years old, still playing.

I commend Vince and all the guys who played till they was 40. I just don't think mentally and physically I want to do it. - Hey, I appreciate you coming out, man.

I appreciate you coming on the show. As my brother, it’s always special, uh, to sit down and have these conversations. I don't take this for granted.

I take it extremely serious. I'm very appreciative. Thank you for coming on.

- Man, always. - “Chips,” that's a wrap.