DeMar DeRozan Recalls That Time Kobe Bryant Was Legit Mad At Him
DeMar DeRozan can laugh about it now, but it was no laughing matter when his then-Toronto Raptors played Kobe Bryant and the Lakers -- and DeRozan was wearing the wrong shoes.
DeRozan always used to wear Kobe shoes. But ahead of one game against the Lakers, DeRozan decided to go rogue and wear Jordans. Bryant noticed and had a little something to say about it.
DeRozan, who grew up in Compton and played at USC, was a huge Bryant fan. He detailed what went down to Yahoo Sports Canada.
“It’s different now, but I remember my first couple years in the league, if you played against a person, you wouldn’t wear their shoes,” DeRozan said in the video interview. “I always wore Kobes, bro, but whenever we played the Lakers, I didn’t wear them, right? So there was one game we were playing the Lakers in Toronto, and I said ’Man, screw that, he ain’t about to kill us. And I got his shoes on and I’m guarding him,’ ... So I wore some Jordan 10s. As soon as he walked on the court, he was mad as a mother (f———). He said ‘This is what you want? That’s what you’re doing?’ ... I said, ‘My bad bro, I got you, I got you.’”
The 30-year-old DeRozan, who has been with the San Antonio Spurs since 2018, had plenty of laughs recounting the story. He had his jersey retired at USC In February.
DeRozan is averaging 22.2 points per game and 5.6 assists per game this season.
