Day: November 3, 2023

DeMar DeRozan said he has no problem playing out the final year of his contract without an extension.

“I honestly don’t think about it at all. I never have. It doesn’t worry me or stress me out. Again, I control what I can control. And in due time, let it speak for itself,” DeRozan said.

DeRozan did say he sometimes thinks about how long he wants to play. He said he misses his kids and their activities. But he’s just taking things as they come and doesn’t have an answer on how long he wants to play for.

“I tell the young guys now: Enjoy and appreciate it while you’re young because as you get older, your perspective changes. You start to gain more responsibility in life. It gets tougher. Those hotel nights get longer,” DeRozan said. “But me being a fan of the game, man, I never wanted to see Kobe retire. I remember when (Michael) Jordan retired, I just knew he was going to come back even after the Wizards. Being in that position, you want to give the game all you can give.”

Devin Vassell exited the San Antonio Spurs win over the Phoenix Suns on Thursday at the end of the first half. Vassell was later ruled out with left groin tightness.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said Vassell will get an MRI on Friday. Popovich expects his fourth-year guard to be “out for a while”.

Joel Embiid is happy for James Harden that he got the trade he wanted. But Embiid didn’t agree with Harden’s take on how things went for the star guard in Philadelphia. Harden said in his introductory press conference that he felt like the 76ers held him back from being the player he is.

“But in my opinion, we gave him the ball every single possession, because he’s really good. He’s an amazing player. Obviously, being that great of a passer, I think we gave him the ball … we’d give him the ball every single possession to just go out and, you know, do his thing. And from there he had to make decisions as far as getting guys open or looking out for himself,” Embiid said.

“But I thought he did a pretty good job of getting us into an offense and just passing the ball, getting guys open. That’s the reason why he won the assist title last year.”

Embiid added that he’s happy for Harden, but that it’s disappointing how everything played out.