The San Antonio Spurs got a stellar performance from DeMar DeRozan in Saturday night's win over the Minnesota Timberwolves, prompting his teammates to applaud him for his efforts.
Following the victory, Dejounte Murray called out ESPN for ranking DeRozan as the No. 82 player in the NBA for this season:
Murray has something to say about that DeRozan ranking by ESPN….. #gospursgo #nba #nbatwitter pic.twitter.com/Xd9l0PDSNC
— JeffGSpursKENS5 (@JeffGSpursZone) January 10, 2021
Every year before the NBA season begins, ESPN compiles a list of the top 100 players in the league. Ahead of this season, ESPN questionably ranked DeRozan as the 82nd-best player, which was a head-scratching decision to his teammates.
Despite the low ranking, DeRozan is playing with a chip on his shoulder to begin the season for San Antonio. In the first nine games of the season, the Spurs star has averaged 21.2 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 7.0 assists while playing 34.4 minutes per game.
What's even more impressive is that DeRozan — who isn't known for his outside shooting — is hitting a career-best 39.1 percent of his 3-point attempts. He's also attempting 2.6 3-pointers a game, which is the third-most in his career.
DeRozan didn't make any noise from 3-land in the 125-122 overtime win over the Timberwolves on Saturday, but he shot 13-of-23 from the field and 12-of-13 on free throws. He added five assists and five rebounds in the victory.
While DeRozan has performed well thus far, Murray has also been showing signs of growth for the Spurs. The fourth-year point guard is currently recording averages of 16.8 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 5.1 assists per game, which are all career highs for the Washington product.
Whenever ESPN releases its annual rankings for players in the NBA, there are always arguments among fans and players. After the Spurs improved their record to 5-4 with DeRozan putting up 38 points, Murray wanted to let ESPN that DeRozan's ranking was a mistake.
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