DeMar DeRozan's Wake-Up Call

by Jonathan Abrams | Nov 12, 2018

Screenshot of San Antonio Spurs video spotlighting Nik Soupe’s mural of DeRozan.

San Antonio proved something to DeRozan before he had even played a game for the Spurs. It came in the form of a mural of him in a Spurs jersey. The art, created by San Antonio graffiti artist Nik Soupe, was so surprising DeRozan thought it had been doctored.

"I start seeing it go up everywhere, and it just tripped me out because I hadn't been to San Antonio yet and they put me on a wall that got David Robinson, Tim [Duncan], the Iceman [George Gervin]," DeRozan says. "You got all these greats up here, and it's like that's where the term comes in. Prove 'em. You want to go out there and just prove to the fans my appreciation, because something like that, for it to be stood up there like that is definitely cool."

Leaving Toronto, though, meant being separated from his longtime running mate, and good friend, Kyle Lowry. As Raptors, the pair had grown close over time, opposites attracting. While Lowry was tenacious, gritty, DeRozan usually bottled his emotions and played smoothly. Their relationship extends beyond the game. Recently, Lowry matched a school fundraising goal for DeRozan's five-year-old daughter. ("He woke me up out my sleep this morning to tell me that, and something like that is just super cool, man," DeRozan says.) Since DeRozan's departure, Lowry has solitarily continued their pregame handshake ritual. ("It's not surprising, because I know that's my man," DeRozan says.)

"I push him even more because he is not on my team," Lowry told The Undefeated. "I can push him to be a better player every single night because I can watch from afar. I can tell him what he is doing, what I see and help him even more because I'm not on the floor with him. I can see with the naked eye, 'You can do this.'