Toronto Raptors president Masai Ujiri apologized to DeMar DeRozan for the “miscommunication” leading up to the all-star guard getting traded to the San Antonio on Wednesday.
“I want to not only apologize to DeMar DeRozan for maybe a gap of miscommunication, but also to acknowledge him and what he’s done here with the Raptors, for this city, for this country. There’s no measure to what this kid has done.”
Sources close to DeRozan told ESPN’s Chris Haynes that DeMar had met with Raptors officials in Las Vegas during Las Vegas Summer League and believed that he wasn’t going to be traded after they met.
“I had a conversation with DeMar at summer league, and I really want to leave it at that,” Ujiri said Friday. “We spoke … I think maybe my mistake was talking about what we expected going forward from him. So, not necessarily talking about a trade but what I expect from him going forward, and I think that’s where the gap was.”
Ujiri also stated: “In my job, I always have to assume we’re going forward with the team that I have. If there was a miscommunication there, I do apologize to DeMar and his family and his representation. It’s not what I meant.”
DeRozan put a post up on Instagram and wrote that he was “told one thing and the outcome another” and there “ain’t no loyalty in the game.”
DeRozan has spent his entire career with the Raptors after being drafted to the team in 2009. The 28-year-old made the All-Star team four times in the past five seasons and helped Toronto win a franchise-record 59 games in 2017-18.
