DeMar DeRozan Explains Why Raptors Didn’t Need Kawhi to Win 2019 Title

Back when the Raptors earned their first-ever NBA title back in the 2018-19 campaign, Kawhi Leonard spent most of the competition injured on the sidelines. This is one of the reasons why DeMar DeRozan, who used to wear the Toronto jersey, believes the team didn’t really need the Clippers star to conquer the Larry O’Brien Trophy. 

What is curious about this, is that it was the same trade that brought Leonard to Canada, that eventually sent DeRozan to Texas. This has been credited for years as one of the most important factors in Toronto’s surprise championship five years ago.

The veteran guard, who today is getting ready to make his debut with the Kings this upcoming season, talked about this topic on last Thursday’s edition of First Take, alongside host Stephen A. Smith. “Never to discredit those guys. They won it. They deserve it. I finally had got to a point where I was happy for them. But for sure. I definitely feel like that. The only person we couldn’t beat was LeBron James.

The city always has love for @DeMar_DeRozan! ❤️

Fans packed the house to celebrate the release of his new book “Above the noise” in Toronto! pic.twitter.com/tzogspd7q2

— NBA Canada (@NBACanada) September 14, 2024

“That’s just what it was. I felt off the year we had before, we just needed one more piece to kind of push us over the top. That piece came to be LeBron going to the West and I didn’t get an opportunity to see what would have happened. But the upmost confident in myself, I have no doubt in my mind the same outcome would have happened,” he assured.

The Los Angeles forward is currently working hard to recover completely for training camp on October 1, as he still suffers from a knee injury. Kawhi was seen on the court for the last time in July, when he was part of Team USA’s camp before he was replaced by Derrick White.

“I speak to him all the time,” Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue told ESPN. “He’ll be ready for [Clippers] training camp. He’s feeling good and I know he’ll be ready for training camp.”

The 33-year-old has been dealing with a knee inflammation during the Clippers’ short playoff run at the end of the last campaign, and was initially expected to make it to the Paris Olympics. However, eventually the coaching staff thought it was in his best interest to step aside and dedicate himself to recover.

DeRozan also admitted that if he got the opportunity to retire in a Raptors jersey, it would be a very difficult for him not to accept it

The new Sacramento recruit found himself promoting his new book in an interview with Doug Smith from The Star, and was asked about the possibility of someday returning to Toronto and eventually retiring with the franchise. DeMar claimed that it would be an incredible opportunity that wold be hard to reject.

“If I had the opportunity to do something like that, you can’t turn something like that down, to put on that jersey for the last time, because it was the first jersey you put on,” the veteran assured during his book tour.

His book is called Above the Noise and talks about mental health and depression in the sport world, and how society has changed entirely through technology. “We live in such an opinion-based universe now. You can’t express nothing without outside people trying to tear that down,” he said.

DeRozan believes that social media plays an enormous role in mental health, and assures that nobody is outside of this vicious circle because all you need is a cellphone to become a part of it.