DeMar DeRozan wants the Raptors to “win a ring” this season, according to his good friend Kyle Lowry.
Lowry says he regularly communicates with his former teammate, who is happy for Toronto’s success after being traded last summer.
The All-Star point guard chalks up the front-office’s decision to move on from DeRozan as “strictly business.”
Per The Undefeated:
Lowry: “I’ve been speaking to him the whole way. One thing about him is that he legit cares about me as his best friend. He has texted everyone he has a relationship with and let them know how happy he is for us.”
Do you remember your emotions at the start of the season after the changes were made to the team?
Lowry: “It was strictly business. All business. That’s where my emotions were. I didn’t care about the business other than strictly being a basketball player. I didn’t care about being friends with anybody. I didn’t care about this or that. I just legit cared about coming in here and being the best player I could be because everyone was saying, ‘He is not going to do this. He is not going to do that.’ My job was to prove them wrong.”
When did that mentality change?
Lowry: “It was always still going to be a business. But I was like, ‘Look, if you’re going to be here, just buy in and do what you need to do to help the team win.’ And that means a lot. I was bought-in from the [beginning]. But I kind of really shelled off. I was going to come in here and prove a point. People didn’t think I could be the same player that I was.”
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