DeRozan’s daughter received threats from Raptors fans, was escorted out by security: Report

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DeMar DeRozan’s daughter Diar became part of the story of Chicago’s win over the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday, but it appears it wasn’t all fun and games for the nine-year-old.

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In fact, it must have been a scary situation afterward.

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DeRozan screamed loudly whenever a Raptor attempted a free throw and was credited even by some Raptors as part of the reason for the team missing half of its 36 attempts in the close loss. “I don’t really know if it had an effect. We went 18-for-36, so it had to have an effect somewhat. She did a great job,” said Scottie Barnes.

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Her father joked about it later, but it appears there were some tense moments.

Chris Haynes, TNT and Bleacher Report NBA insider tweeted Friday night that Diar DeRozan “was escorted out of Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday by Bulls’ security and led to team bus with her father after NBA notified team of severe online threats directed at the nine-year-old.”

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One such threat would have been enough. Several is simply shameful behaviour. No matter how much you cheer for a team (or want a bet to win), threatening a child is absurd and extremely inappropriate.

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The elder DeRozan had talked about how badly his daughter had wanted to attend the game.

“She just said: ‘Dad can I come to the Toronto game?’,” DeRozan said. “I remember going to all the Toronto games when she was a kid. I almost said no because she was in school back home. She kept asking. She was adamant about coming here and supporting. I just said, ‘All right, you can miss one day of school and come to a game and I’m glad I did. I owe her some money for sure.”