Saturday night, the Toronto Raptors retired their first player jersey ever — Vince Carter’s No. 15. He had to be first.
Who is next? Kyle Lowry’s jersey belongs in the rafters, no doubt. What about DeMar DeRozan? DeRozan spent nine seasons with the Raptors, was a four-time All-Star who averaged 19.7 points a game in those years, was integral to some of the best Raptors teams ever, and was beloved in the community. He was traded to the Spurs in 2018 for Kawhi Leonard, but many Toronto fans would love to see DeRozan’s No. 10 in the rafters.
Not the Raptors’ most famous fan, Drake. He was on the broadcast when the idea was brought up and said, “If you ever put a DeRozan banner up, I’ll go up there and pull it down myself.”
DeRozan is a Los Angeles guy — Compton born and raised, went to college at USC — who this summer appeared in the video to “
Not Like Us,” Kendrick Lamar’s Drake dis track and massive hit that has become another L.A. anthem (the Dodgers were playing it at their championship parade). While Drake and DeRozan were tight when he was a Raptor, and DeRozan said they still are as far as he is concerned, Drake seemed to take things more personally.
As for Drake’s comment, DeRozan said, “He’s going to have a long way to climb.”
As always, the lesson here is to stay on Kendrick Lamar’s good side.
