DeRozan finds ways to deal with his demons

Toronto Raptors star DeMar DeRozan publicly discussed his long battle with depression and anxiety in an interview published by the Toronto Star on Sunday.

At 3 am the night before the Feb 18 NBA All-Star Game in Los Angeles, DeRozan stunned people when he sent out a tweet that said: "This depression gets the best of me."

The four-time All-Star guard told the Star he has been dealing with the issues since he was a child growing up in the Los Angeles suburb of Compton.

"It's not something I'm against or ashamed of," DeRozan said. "Now, at my age, I understand how many people go through it. Even if it's just somebody who can look at it like, 'He goes through it and he's still out there being successful and doing this,' I'm OK with that."

DeRozan said he doesn't drink alcohol and attempts to fill up his time with family and basketball to help cope with the demons.

"This is real stuff," DeRozan said. "We're all human at the end of the day. That's why I look at every person I encounter the same way.

"I don't care who you are. You can be the smallest person off the street or the biggest person in the world, I'm going to treat everybody the same, with respect.

"My mom always told me: Never make fun of anybody because you never know what that person is going through. Ever since I was a kid, I never did. I never did. I don't care about shape, form, ethnicity, nothing. I treat everybody the same. You never know."

DeRozan would appear to be trouble-free judging by his production. The 28-year-old is averaging 23.9 points for a Toronto team that possesses the best record in the Eastern Conference at 47-17 entering Monday.

He averaged a career-best 27.3 points last season with perhaps the league's top midrange game.

This season, he has expanded his arsenal and has knocked down a career-best 68 3-pointers.

But when he's away from the game, depression, anxiety and loneliness creep in.

In reality, depression doesn't skip past All-Star guards - it can impact any type of person in any line of work.

Like it did during the celebratory NBA All-Star Weekend.

"I always have various nights," DeRozan said. "I've always been like that since I was young, but I think that's where my demeanor comes from.

"I'm so quiet, if you don't know me. I stay standoffish in a sense, in my own personal space, to be able to cope with whatever it is I've got to cope with."

Associated Press