DeMar DeRozan returned to play at the Chicago Bulls on Sunday for the first time since joining the Sacramento Kings during the 2024 offseason. DeRozan spent three seasons with the Bulls and furthered his reputation as one of the best clutch players in the game.
But DeRozan still puts the Toronto Raptors as first with his nine seasons with the franchise at the start of his career before he was traded to the San Antonio Spurs in 2018 for Kawhi Leonard.
“Toronto will always be No. 1, first of all,” DeRozan said, smiling. “But, I’ve got to put Chicago second because, mentally, of the space I was in after I got traded (to San Antonio). San Antonio helped my career so much. But, where I was with my joy mentally, I was going through so much stuff personally.
“So, to kind of have a renewed ambition coming to Chicago … I remember the first meeting I had with (executive vice president of basketball operations ArtÅ«ras Karnišovas) and (general manager) Marc (Eversley). They said, ‘Come here and just be you.’ For that to translate to me being an All-Star, to doing all the incredible things I did here, it just shows you that if you stay with something, it will repay you. It gave me a renewed ambition coming back here.”
The Bulls were one of the best stories in the NBA during DeRozan’s first season before an injury to Lonzo Ball derailed their season.
“The first moment I came here, I tried to give my all to this organization, to this city. And I think it showed,” DeRozan said. “You can’t fake it when you’re genuinely putting everything into representing the Bulls. I embodied the culture of Chicago, everything. I think when people see that, you get the genuine reaction in return.”