Two summers ago, DeMar DeRozan inked a five-year extension with the Toronto Raptors, committing the prime of his basketball career to a team that’s customarily failed to retain their star players.
DeRozan could have easily booked it, signed with his hometown team in Los Angeles and put himself on the path to becoming a bonafide superstar. But he decided to stay, eventually leading the Raptors to the first seed this season and their best regular season in franchise history. He sacrificed personal gain for the sake of continuity — sacrifices that he believes weren’t considered when the Raptors traded him for what could be a one-year rental of Kawhi Leonard.