The Spurs' and Raptors' exchange of superstars Kawhi Leonard and DeMar DeRozan rocked the basketball world last week.

It also surprised DeRozan, who told ESPN he felt Raptors President Masai Ujiri didn't give him the respect he deserved by informing him of a pending trade that would end his nine seasons in a Toronto uniform.

"I felt like I wasn't treated with what I sacrificed for nine years, with the respect that I thought I deserved,"  DeRozan said. "By just giving me the say so of letting me know something's going on or it's a chance. That's all I wanted. That's all I wanted. I'm not saying, 'You don't have to trade me' or ... just let me know something is going on because I sacrificed everything. Just let me know. That's all I asked. Everybody knows I'm the most low-maintenance person in the world. Just let me know, so I can prepare myself for whatever my next chapter is, and I didn't get that."


DeMar DeRozan believes he did not get the respect he deserved after failing to be informed about the trade that sent him from the Toronto Raptors to the San Antonio Spurs.

The San Antonio Spurs traded Kawhi Leonard one week ago, at long last, after months of rumors. The Spurs shipped him off to Toronto along with Danny Green, receiving DeMar DeRozan, Jakob Poeltl, and a protected 2019 first-round pick in return.

"Man, I was really stuck," DeRozan said. "I couldn't think for a second because it just didn't feel real. I didn't have no indication like it would be something else. If I knew that, I wouldn't have reacted the way I did. I would have been prepared for it. But it caught me completely off-guard because I'm thinking this is another summer. Move forward. I talked to my teammates every single day how we can get better.

"So to hit me with that at midnight out the blue, like, c'mon. Two days prior, it was asked, 'Is anything going on?' If it is, just let me know because the rumours keep coming up. Two days later, you're going here."