California’s DeMar DeRozan isn’t letting Drake, or anyone else, rewrite his Toronto Raptors legacy. The Kings star, who still holds the record for the most points in the NBA franchise’s history, made it clear this week that no amount of celebrity shade or rap beef drama can take away what he built north of the border. Ahead of Sacramento’s preseason opener against the Raptors on Wednesday, DeRozan was asked about two things: Drake’s recent digs at him, and how he feels about Toronto these days. His answer? Pure class.
“That’s home, man,” DeRozan said. “That’s where my whole career started. That’s where I became the player I am today, so the Raptors organization is definitely always going to have a special place, regardless. Now, 10 years, 20 years, 30 years from now, nothing that can ever replace that feeling I had those nine years there.”
According to Sacbee, for anyone keeping score, that’s nine seasons, 13,296 points, five playoff runs, and four All-Star selections. It’s safe to say DeRozan didn’t just play in Toronto; he defined an era of Raptors basketball. “I represented that place more,” said DeRozan.
California’s DeMar DeRozan Fires Back At Drake
But things got messy last season when Drake, Toronto’s self-appointed global ambassador, took a few public shots at his former hometown hero. During the Kings’ visit to Toronto for Vince Carter’s jersey retirement night, Drake said, “If you ever put a DeRozan banner up, I’ll go up there and pull it down myself.” DeRozan’s response? Calm and cold as ice. “He’s going to have a long way to climb to take it down, so tell him good luck.”
That’s DeRozan in a nutshell: confident, unbothered, and unwilling to get dragged into drama. Even after Drake’s antics, throwing a DeRozan jersey offstage during a concert in Australia and reportedly dissing him in a leaked song snippet, DeRozan isn’t biting. “I knew about it a year ago, so it ain’t nothing new,” he said. “It’s new to everybody, but I already knew.”
If anything, his tone toward Drake remains shockingly gracious. DeRozan, who appeared in Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” video (the now-iconic diss track aimed squarely at Drake), still refuses to make the feud personal. “Drake’s still my man, still my man, none of it changed,” he told The Sacramento Bee over the summer. “It’s so easy to get overlooked and look at it for what it looks like, but at the end of the day, it’s music, entertainment. Two of the biggest rappers in the world went at it from a competitive standpoint, and they battled it out. That’s what you want to see as a fan.”
DeMar DeRozan Still Has Love For Toronto
DeRozan even compared it to watching Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan go one-on-one, just competition at the highest level. Meanwhile, Drake doesn’t seem to share that same chill energy. From concert theatrics to media comments, the 6 God has made it a point to publicly distance himself from the former Raptors star who once helped make Toronto basketball relevant again. But DeRozan isn’t losing sleep over any of it.
“No, I don’t care,” he said when asked if Drake’s behavior changed how he feels about the Raptors. “What I did there, I put my life on the line every single moment I stepped on the court. Nothing or nobody could ever take that away. I don’t get caught up in shenanigans or all the bull crap that comes with it.” That’s the thing about DeMar DeRozan: he’s always kept it real. No matter what coast he’s playing on or which rapper’s throwing shade, he’s not going to let noise overshadow his legacy.
And for Raptors fans, that legacy is untouchable. Nine seasons of loyalty, heartbreak, and highlights can’t be erased by a lyric or a microphone moment. DeMar DeRozan’s name may not hang in the rafters yet, but in Toronto’s basketball story, it’s written in permanent ink. So while Drake might talk about pulling down a banner, DeRozan’s already earned something no one can reach. A place in Raptors history that’s bigger than music beefs and celebrity egos.
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