DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry have spent the past week on opposite sides of the country as DeRozan has been in Los Angeles and Lowry has been in Philadelphia, but on Wednesday the two reunited for the first time since the trade in Las Vegas at the USA Basketball Mini-Camp.
DeRozan and Lowry were teammates for six seasons and they became each other’s family during their time in Toronto together and it showed in their chemistry both on and off the court. After they got down to business and took care of basketball matters, the duo were back together again and it looked like nothing has changed now that they’re opponents.
This all comes just under 24 hours after DeRozan opened up about the trade for the first time, where he mentioned that he and Lowry have talked every single day since it happened and he was the first person he contacted when he heard the news. Here’s an excerpt from his one-on-one interview with ESPN’s Chris Haynes.
CH: Have you talked to Kyle Lowry?
DD: Yeah, I talk to Kyle every day.
CH: What was that conversation like initially?
DD:I remember when I found out it was 12 a.m. in LA. I blew his phone up. He was in Philly, it was 2, 3 o'clock in the morning. Blowing his phone up till he answered. He answered and I told him, and you could tell he was sleeping. He was like 'What?' He just sounded out of it. My phone was going crazy, I said 'Imma hit you man, it ain't out yet, it'll be out in the morning.' I woke up in the morning, he sent me a long text. He couldn't believe it. But he gave me some words that helped me through the whole day, what to prepare for. As him just being my brother, outside of my teammate, he was there for me in that moment. You could tell it affected him as well, so it was cool just to have that support from him.
CH: Is there anything that you could share that sticks out about what he told you?
DD:Nah, I'll let him do it at some point. He hasn't said nothing. He didn't even want to put no [social media] posts up, because whenever he speaks, it's definitely going to be something that's from the heart.
There’s no love lost between the two now that they live in different countries and play in different conferences, but their friendship is one that will last a lifetime.
(H/T Instagram/DeMar_DeRozan)
