DeRozan enticed by challenge of joining, helping ‘uprising’ Kings

DeRozan enticed by challenge of joining, helping ‘uprising’ Kings originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SACRAMENTO – Over the past two seasons, DeMar DeRozan would sit inside his Chicago home and turn the TV on to catch up on the latest NBA action.

A true fan of the game, DeRozan tries to keep up with the rest of the league and watch as many games as possible during his free time.

So when he flipped through the channels and the Kings were playing, he was intrigued by how loud and clear he could hear the Golden 1 Center crowd through the television, cheering and on their feet during a regular-season weekday game.

Then he heard chants. The chants.

“Light the beam! Light the beam!” hollers could be heard from eager Kings fans patiently waiting for the clock to hit zero. When it finally did and Sacramento was victorious, DeRozan noticed some postgame extracurriculars that kept him from changing the channel.

It was time to light the beam in Sacramento, symbolized by a player walking over to the scorer’s table and slamming their hand on a button that ignited purple lasers shooting out of G1C after every Kings win.

Fast forward to Tuesday, where DeRozan sat inside that same exact building after joining the team he always watched from afar, increasingly fascinated by the sensation that is the beam. But what drew the highly sought-after star free agent to Sacramento?

“How many times I’ve seen that beam lit up when I was chilling at home,” DeRozan said Tuesday during his introductory press conference in Sacramento. “Especially being on Central Time. I watch every NBA game. So you would just always see something lit up. It’s like, ‘What’s the significance of pushing this button?’ But like I said, winning solves all.

“And that’s one thing I always express to guys that I play with who want to be All-Stars, wanting to get paid – winning solves everything. You want to be a part of winning. You want to be a winner. You want to be known as a winner. So that’s the most compelling thing for me, and you see it every single night when his team plays. It’s all about winning.”

DeRozan spent the past three…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/derozan-enticed-challenge-joining-helping-050000844.html

Author : NBC Sports BayArea

Publish date : 2024-07-10 05:00:00

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