With time to come to terms with his trade to the San Antonio Spurs, DeMar DeRozan has finally decided to open up and give his thoughts on the deal.
The shooting guard conducted a special interview with ESPN's Chris Haynes to air his views and he had a lot to say on the matter.
In the blockbuster trade of the summer, the Toronto Raptors traded their star player to the Spurs in exchange for Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green.
As part of the deal, they also sent Jakob Poeltl and a first-round pick to San Antonio.
Still processing
DeRozan admitted that he's still in shock that his tenure with the Raptors is over.
He spent his entire nine-year career in Toronto since he was drafted in 2009 and had no plans to ever leave Canada.
The four-time All-Star signed a five-year deal with the team as a free agent in 2016 and committed his long-term future to the franchise.
But the loyalty he showed wasn't reciprocated and he says he'll be coming out with a different mindset next season as a member of the Spurs.
"Just this whole transition of making this move, it kind of makes you look back at your career in the sense of what points you could've been better at, how you could have been better at it, the success that you had, the failures that you had," DeRozan said.
"And you kind of accumulate all that into a ball of motivation and hunger and kind of frustration, on top of this situation happening.
"I'm going to start from the bottom, to show why I've been the player I've been, but this time, with a whole different level of "I don't care about nothing else."
The 28-year-old also promised Spurs fans that he'll be playing with a different edge next year.
"A guy that's been proven to prove himself time and time again -- this time around having the biggest chip on his shoulder ever," he said, when asked what kind of player San Antonio will be getting.
The move to Texas will see him reunite with former teammate and close friend Rudy Gay and he confirmed that he spoke to him on the night of the trade.
The All-NBA guard is disappointed about the trade but he admits that one positive he can take from it is the opportunity to play for Gregg Popovich.
"I've always been a fan of Pop," he said. "There was just something about him from the way he ran his team, the way he coached, his credibility.
"Everything that stands out about Pop, you just have to love. So to have this opportunity to play with a legendary coach at this point in my career, I think it's one of those blessings that's in disguise because this is a cool moment to be with a guy like that."
CLICK HERE to listen to Episode Two of the new GiveMeSport NBA podcast, featuring New York Times senior writer Marc Stein. Subscribe for all future episodes.