DeMar DeRozan gets brutally honest about Lakers rumors

DeMar DeRozan has always been a bit of a polarizing figure in the NBA. While he’s a gifted athlete and talented scorer, his reluctance to shoot three-pointers and poor performances in the playoffs never allowed him to reach that elite status.

Then again, there’s no denying that he could be a valuable asset on a Championship team, especially if he’s not the primary scorer. That’s why, apparently, the Los Angeles Lakers want to pair him with LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

Rumors travel really fast nowadays and not even NBA players can escape from them, so DeRozan simply addressed that situation during his interview with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson for ‘All The Smoke’.

DeMar DeRozan On Lakers Trade Interest: “You Always Want To Be Wanted”

“For me it’s just I’ve learned being in the league so long that you always want to be wanted. So when you see things about teams wanting you, you can’t feel a certain type of way. You’d better feel good about it because there’s some motherf****** that’s not wanted. You don’t want to be that person. So to be wanted by a championship team that just came off a championship, to see that, how could you not feel some type of way? Especially me, being from L.A., it’s like ‘damn, my hometown team want me? They just came off a championship and they want me?’ It’s definitely crazy to be able to see that,” DeRozan said.

DeRozan was born and raised in California so there are some obvious ties to the Los Angeles Lakers. Moreover, it’s clear that he hasn’t been as comfortable in Gregg Popovich’s offense as he was in Toronto, so he’s been a trade candidate for some time now.

Should the Lakers make a run at him, they’d have to part ways with Danny Green and Kyle Kuzma, which wouldn’t be that much of a sacrifice considering Green is on an expiring deal and Kuzma is going to demand a lot of money in the offseason.