September 15, 2016.
The day Sports Illustrated released their annual list of the NBA’s top 100 players.
Not so coincidentally, this day was also significant for one DeMar DeRozan.
DeMar — coming off a career season and a conference finals appearance — was not particularly content with his place among the league’s finest. Dwight Howard, Steven Adams, Andre Iguodala, and eventual teammate Serge Ibaka all took their places above DeRozan on SI’s list. The rankings had the Raptors’ star forty-sixth best in the league, blasphemous for a player most would consider not even deserving of a hyphen.