While DeMar DeRozan will almost certainly become a free agent, he maintains his preference is to re-sign with the Toronto Raptors.

“That’s one you thing you can never question: my loyalty to the city,” DeRozan told host Joey Vendetta on the Jeff Blair Show. “How much I really love and appreciate the team and the organization. I think all the fans understand that. A lot of times they don’t understand how contracts or things like that. But I’ve always stressed that this is where I want to be my whole career.”

DeRozan was the ninth overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft.

“Since Day One in Toronto, I’ve been so prideful of the city and the country.”

“A new contract is what DeMar is going for and we feel we have a good shot,” Raptors GM Masai Ujiri said Thursday evening on Prime Time Sports. “This is his team, this is a team that he knows very well, loves the city, is well-loved here, and we can offer him a year extra. There are so many things, so we feel comfortable.”