CHICAGO - After an Instagram rant and a face palm emoji to manifest his displeasure for being traded from Toronto to San Antonio last July 18. DeMar DeRozan recently had a sit-down interview with ESPN where his emotions flowed freely like the Nile river.
Enough already. Please.
Break-ups are supposed to hurt. Deal with it.
Don't get me wrong here. I like the kid very much. He once granted me an interview a few seasons ago after the Raptors-Pacers game in Indiana and I will always appreciate his fondness for the Philippines and his ravaging appetite for chicken adobo.
But this frustration tour and hate campaign must stop. Continuing to do so gives the Raptors the satisfaction of seeing him hurt and implode publicly.
Grieve hard. Cry harder. Get angry.
Do what you have to do.
But do it privately, DeMar.
And after all the tears are washed away in the sea of life's experience, embrace next season with renewed vigor. Perform like the perennial All-Star that you are, act like the gentleman you've always been, and in the final reckoning, make the Raptors regret they chose greedy ambition over loyalty.
Back in his heydays in the late 80s and throughout the 90s, Patrick Ewing was as immovable as the Empire State Building, untouchable as John Gotti. But when he was traded from the New York Knicks to the Seattle SuperSonics on September 20, 2000, the world kept spinning.
Ewing was already 37 by then and his 7-foot-1 frame was falling apart. In a May 27, 1999 Washington Post column, Micheal Wilbon described Ewing as having a sore Achilles tendon, a surgically repaired wrist, bruised right ribs, and chronically painful knees.
After 15 summers of doggedly chasing the Larry O'Brien trophy, the former king of the NBA jungle resembled the carcass of a tired lion, one that had been to too many hunts.
Unlike Ewing, though, DeRozan is still in his prime at age 28. And with just nine seasons under his belt, he is fresh, injury-free, and durable.
All those things didn't matter because in a report by USA Today, Raptors president Masai Ujiri decided that the opportunity to acquire Kawhi Leonard was "too tempting to pass."
This is probably why DeRozan's feelings graduated from slighted to jilted. Break-ups are bad. It means something is broken. But it gets even badder when there is somebody else, a third party.
"We can't keep doing the same things over and over," Ujiri said of Toronto's traumatic cycle of championing the regular season only to flame out during the playoffs. DeRozan apparently got the ax for that, but in fairness to DeMar, every time Raptors built something great, LeBron James tore it down like the Berlin Wall.
Cheer up, DeMar. Some sad endings often lead to happy new beginnings. And you are going to a place full of silver and black linings.
Instead of being mentored by an unknown entity in Raptors freshman head coach Nick Nurse, you now have Gregg Popovich whispering wisdom in your ears. If you think the Dalai Lama is worldly and perpetually calm, wait 'til you see how coach Pop conducts a huddle facing a huge deficit with a title on the line.
Your textmates now include David Robinson and Tim Duncan. And you get to play alongside Manu Ginobili and LaMarcus Aldridge. Ain't that a more impressive contacts list than Kyle Lowry, Pascal Siakam and Fred Van Fleet?
And just as Toronto had done, the Spurs will pay you handsomely, every penny of the $84 million you are the next three years. That should blunt some of the pain, the sleepless nights, the mental distress.
I know. Leaving places and people you've grown to love sucks like hell. And ugh, the memories, the photographs, and the highlight reels will tug at your heartstrings like an afternoon telenovela.
But hey, DeMar, you weren't fired from your job, just transferred. And you're not going to Omaha, Nebraska. You are going to a place where the people live and breath Spurs basketball.
Sure, Toronto's "betrayal" will sting for a while, but always remember this: The ashes from a bridge that was burned could become the foundation of something bigger.
So play ball. Play it unselfishly. Play defense like your next meal depends on it. Listen to your coaches, trust your teammates.
Do these things the Spurs have perfected through generations, DeMar, and soon you will discover that love can also be found in somebody else's arms.
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