PARIS — DeMar DeRozan wouldn’t trade the experience he’s had with his four daughters and son in Paris the last week for anything.
At the same time, however, it’s also had him thinking about his basketball mortality and how much longer he wants to play in the NBA.
Drafted in 2009, the 33-year-old DeRozan was informed on Thursday that he’s played in more NBA games than anyone else in that class, and played in the fifth-most games overall in that span.
“I did not know that,’’ DeRozan said. “I mean, I just said it without knowing: I always pride myself on that. I was a kid who always wanted to play every recess at school, every AAU game when you play five games in a day. I just always wanted to hoop. That’s always been my mentality. That speaks for itself when you give me that stat because I had no idea about that. That’s definitely crazy.’’
Which led to DeRozan being asked how much longer he wanted to play the game?
“For me, as I get older — if you had asked me this five or eight years ago, it probably would’ve been a different response — you start to realize you miss so much with your kids,’’ DeRozan said. “My oldest is 9. I was having a conversation one day and I was like, ‘I only got three more summers until she’s in high school. And I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ You put it in that perspective and it becomes scary. Because it’s like, ‘Damn, my oldest daughter is almost a teenager.’
“With them being in so many activities and doing so much stuff and you miss so much, that kind of takes a toll on you. Four years from now, whatever it may be, you look up and you start to put things in perspective of like, ‘Do I want to be there for the kids a little bit more?’ A lot of those things come into play more than anything, even if I have the drive to still want to do it.
“We miss so much time sacrificing that we’ll never be able to get back with our kids. I want to be there for them, my daughters and my son. Give them everything that I went through. That will play a factor more than anything.’’
DeRozan has just one more season left on his current Bulls deal, scheduled to make $28.6 million next season before he hits free agency if an extension does not come his way.
