DeMar DeRozan had admitted he battles with depression.

“I always have various nights,” DeRozan said in a wide-ranging and wildly open glimpse into his private life. “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 you’ve got to cope with.”

DeRozan attempts to cope with his issues by throwing himself into life with his family and basketball.

“This is real stuff,” he 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 you could be 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 what shape, form, ethnicity, nothing. I treat everybody the same. You never know.

“I had friends that I thought was perfectly fine, next thing you know they’re a drug addict and can’t remember yesterday . . . I never had a drink in my life because I grew up seeing so many people drinking their life away to suppress the (troubles) they were going through, you know what I mean?”

The Toronto Raptors are unlikely to sign Vince Carter this season, according to Josh Lewenberg of TSN.

“After speaking with a few team sources, I can confirm that they’ve had internal dialogue and debate about the idea of bringing Vince Carter back … but they’ve decided now is not the right time,” Lewenberg said. “And I think the consensus seems to be there’s so much going on right now, and they want this season to be about this team, their accomplishments and their playoff push and not the sideshow that I think would come with a Vince Carter return.”

Carter was traded by the Raptors to the Nets in 2004.

The Kings have been willing to buyout Carter if that becomes his preference.

The Toronto Raptors have agreed to trade Bruno Caboclo to the Sacramento Kings for Malachi Richardson.

Caboclo was Toronto's first round pick in 2014.

The Kings selected Richardson 22nd overall in 2016.

The Toronto Raptors have emerged as a team interested in trading for DeAndre Jordan.

Jordan can become a free agent this offseason.

Any trade presumably would include Jonas Valanciunas and there would need to be a third team to facilitate.

The Cavaliers have also been interested in trading for Jordan.

The New York Knicks remain the NBA's most valuable franchise for the third straight season, according to Forbes' annual report.

The Knicks are valued at $3.6 billion, which is an increase of nine percent from 2017.

The Los Angeles Lakers rank second at $3.3 billion, an increase of 10 percent.

The Golden State Warriors, Chicago Bulls and Boston Celtics round out the top-5.

The average NBA franchise is now worth a record $1.65 billion, up 22% over last year, and more than triple the figure of five years ago. 

Every NBA team is valued at $1 billion or more for the first time in league history.

“Investor interest in the NBA is enormous right now,” said Forbes’ senior editor Kurt Badenhausen, “thanks to the league’s strong current economic environment, as well as the international growth prospects, which are the best of any major U.S. sports league.”

1. Knicks: $3.6 billion (+9%)
2. Lakers: $3.3 billion (+10%)
3. Warriors: $3.1 billion (+19%)
4. Bulls: $2.6 billion (+4%)
5. Celtics: $2.5 billion (+14%)
6. Nets: $2.3 billion (+28%)
7. Rockets: $2.2 billion (+33%)
8. Clippers: $2.15 billion (+7%)
9. Mavericks: $1.9 billion (+31%)
10. Heat: $1.7 billion (+26%)
11. Spurs: $1.55 billion (+32%)
12. Raptors: $1.4 billion (+24%)
13. Kings: $1.375 billion (+28%)
14. Wizards: $1.35 billion (+35%)
15. Cavaliers: $1.325 billion (+10%)
16. Blazers: $1.3 billion (+24%)
17. Suns: $1.28 billion (+16%)
18. Thunder: $1.25 billion (+22%)
19. Magic: $1.225 billion (+33%)
20. Jazz: $1.2 billion (+32%)
21. 76ers: $1.18 billion (+48%)
22. Pacers: $1.175 billion (+34%)
23. Hawks: $1.15 billion (+30%)
24. Nuggets: $1.125 billion (+26%)
25. Pistons: $1.1 billion (+22%)
26. Bucks: $1.075 billion (+37%)
27. Wolves: $1.06 billion (+38%)
28. Hornets: $1.05 billion (+35%)
29. Grizzlies: $1.025 billion (+30%)
30. Pelicans: $1 billion (+33%)

The Toronto Raptors’ DeMar DeRozan and the Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry today were named the Kia NBA Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Month, respectively, for games played in January.

DeRozan ranked second in the Eastern Conference in scoring (25.3 ppg) and added 5.9 assists as the Raptors went 10-5 in January to pull within a game and a half of the East-leading Boston Celtics.  The 6-7 guard scored at least 30 points in four of 15 games, highlighted by a franchise-record 52 points in a 131-127 overtime victory against the Milwaukee Bucks on Jan. 1.  DeRozan recorded at least eight assists four times and posted the highest assist average for any month of his nine-year career.

The Warriors were 10-2 with Curry in the lineup in January, with six of those wins coming on the road.  (Golden State went 11-3 overall.)  The 6-3 guard led the NBA in scoring (29.5 ppg) and added 6.7 assists and 5.1 rebounds while shooting 51.4 percent from the field and 46.3 percent from three-point range.  Curry scored at least 30 points on six occasions, including a season-high 49 points in a 109-105 win over the Celtics on Jan. 27.  He connected on an NBA-high 62 three-pointers for the month, including eight threes as part of a 45-point effort in a 121-105 victory against the LA Clippers on Jan. 6.