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TSN Raptors Reporter

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SAN ANTONIO – DeMar DeRozan isn’t quite sure what to expect when his old team visits his new team in one of the most highly anticipated games of the NBA season on Thursday, and he’s not alone.

For the first time since exchanging franchise players over the summer, the Toronto Raptors and San Antonio Spurs will do battle, and even before factoring in the 48 minutes of actual basketball that will be played, there are enough compelling subplots to make the folks at TNT – who will televise the game nationally in the U.S. – swoon.

How will Kawhi Leonard be received by the city he forced his way out of? Will DeRozan get the chance to face his former All-Star teammate and best friend, Kyle Lowry, who is listed as doubtful with a nagging back injury? And what’s the reunion going to be like for the long-time Raptors guard, who wasn’t exactly thrilled with the idea of moving from Canada to Texas?

“I don’t feel like it’s going to be an emotional game, but that’s right now,” DeRozan said from the Spurs practice facility following the team’s Wednesday morning workout. “I never thought about it. I don’t know. It’s probably a question you’ll have to ask me after.”

When DeRozan spoke to reporters at USA Basketball’s minicamp in Las Vegas back in late-July, just a week after the trade, he admitted this would be a game he would have circled on his calendar. Now, on the eve of it, he’s inferring it’s just another game.

Of course, the months in between have been a whirlwind for the 29-year-old.

On the evening of July 17, DeRozan got a call from Raptors president Masai Ujiri. Ujiri was in Africa, pacing outside of his hotel room while his family slept. DeRozan was just about to go into a movie theatre. He agreed to call Ujiri back when he got out of the theatre. Ujiri paced for a few more hours before finally reconnecting with DeRozan and delivering the life-changing news. He had been traded.

Famously, DeRozan spent the next few hours sitting in his car in a Jack in the Box restaurant parking lot, trying to come to grips with his new reality, and failing. He didn’t want to leave the Raptors, the only NBA organization he had ever known. He didn’t want to be a Spur. He believed he had been misled.

Months later, some of those wounds still haven’t healed, and maybe never will, but many of them have. DeRozan has moved on, at least in part because he’s had no choice but to turn the page, but also because he’s found solace in his new home.

When DeRozan finally arrived in San Antonio, the Spurs made him feel wanted. Gregg Popovich made him feel wanted.

“There’s no doubt he was hurt and a little bit angry, but anybody would be considering all the circumstances,” the Spurs legendary head coach said. “But he got over it, the way each of us has to get over whatever might happen in our lives. Nobody walks through this life [without] negative things happening to them. He understands that as well as anybody. We talked about it, for sure, but he handled it pretty much on his own because he is so mature already. That was never a big issue, at all.”

Nearly halfway through his first season with the Spurs, DeRozan hasn’t missed a beat. He’s averaging 22.9 points, virtually the same as he did with the Raptors last season, to go along with a career-best 5.9 rebounds and 6.3 assists. He’s all but abandoned the three-point shot, attempting just 1.1 per contest after taking a career-high 3.6 last year, but he’s shooting an impressive 48 per cent from the field – his highest mark since his rookie campaign.

It didn’t take him long to feel comfortable reprising a familiar role as his team’s go-to scorer. He remembers one of his first practices with the Spurs in training camp, when Pop ‘cussed him out’ for being too passive. From there, he hasn’t had a problem being himself.

His role is similar, but he’s also operating as the primary ball handler more than ever before. With Dejounte Murray getting hurt before the season, DeRozan has often functioned as the de facto point guard on the floor. It’s been a seamless transition, thanks to his year-to-year improvement as a passer and playmaker, and it’s something that’s come as a pleasant surprise to Pop and many of DeRozan’s new teammates.

“He’s been great,” said long-time Spurs point guard Patty Mills. “He has been a real professional about coming to a new team. You got to remember he was only on one team so all he knew was one way. For him to come into a new system, a new city, a new organization and be the professional that he is is really eye opening to me and I’m sure a lot of the other teammates.”

“He came into a situation and what I can remember from those first days in the gym he was such a willing passer and passing the ball all around the gym. That’s a great way to start and get involved and gain trust with your new teammates. I’ve enjoyed having him, I’ve enjoyed playing with him on the court and I think it’s a thrill. But off the court, too, he is a gentle guy, humble but a fierce competitor so he’s done great so far in this system and we are still growing.”

The Spurs come into Thursday’s game having won 10 of their last 13 contests. Still, they’re just 21-17 on the season, barely hanging onto the eighth and final playoff spot in a crowded Western Conference. It’s a far cry from the Spurs standard, something that DeRozan has already accepted. In his nine seasons with the Raptors, he was part of a steady build – raising the bar and setting new plateaus each year. Now, he points to the five championship banners hanging in the Spurs practice facility. He knows that’s the expectation, even if it’s not an especially realistic one for this particular Spurs team.

He’s also looking up at a Raptors team that leads the NBA with 28 wins and is off to a quick start in the post-DeRozan era. There’s no animosity on his part. He’s not rooting against Leonard, who scored a career-high 45 points on New Year’s Day, exactly 12 months after he set his own career mark with 52 points. He’s also keeping tabs on his former teammates and is proud of their continued growth and success, namely Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet.

He still hasn’t spoken to Ujiri since that fateful night in July, but that’s hardly unusual. Would you expect them to be exchanging Christmas cards or chatting on Skype?

Things didn’t exactly go according to plan, but DeRozan has already experienced enough in his young life to know that life doesn’t always follow your plan. This was another reminder, and not one that he takes for granted. There’s a lesson here, both professionally and personally, that he plans to take with him.

“[I’ve] always been put in the toughest positions, always counted out, doubted in some kind of way,” said the Compton, Calif., native. “I had to fight through the stigma of whatever was placed on me – can’t do this, can’t do this, this. It was always something and I had to fight through it. For me to be in a whole new position, continuing to show that I can get better and not let something hold me down or slow me down, that’s something for me that’s always been my backbone, just continue to be resilient.”

“It just kind of opened my mind up to no matter who you are in this business, and kinda in life as well, you’ve got to be prepared for anything and not let nothing knock you down. It gave me not just this lesson the court, but a life lesson as well.”

DeRozan’s an emotional person by nature, and not just for a professional athlete, so it’s hard to believe he won’t feel at least a little different when he takes to the court on Thursday and sees his former team. Admittedly, his first trip back to Toronto on Feb. 22 – and the overwhelmingly positive reception he’ll get from the home fans – will be one that truly stands out in his memory. However, maybe Thursday night will surprise him. He’s never faced a former team, let alone one with so much shared history between them. DeRozan’s found a new home, but the Raptors will always hold a special place in his heart.