DeMar DeRozan Says Most NBA Players Play Video Games Instead of Watching Basketball

After much was made about Kyler Murray's video game habits during the NFL offseason, Chicago Bulls star DeMar DeRozan said most NBA players aren't watching games during the season, either.

Appearing on The Old Man and The Three podcast (starts at 44:45 mark), DeRozan said he's noticed over the past five or six years that there's "not even a lot of guys who watch basketball" in the league now.

"Most of the guys would play video games," he explained. "They would go home, play video games. I remember, one of my coaches, Dwane Casey, we had film one day. We was playing the Boston Celtics, and he asked one of the players—cause the night before, Boston had played, too—and he asked one of the players, 'What color jersey did Boston wear last night?' And the player didn't know. He didn't know."

DeRozan noted he takes it personally when players don't watch games because he needs to "watch every single game" to get a better understanding of tendencies from opposing teams.

There is perhaps a generational divide happening in some sports right now. It's not like video games are a new phenomenon, but the extent to which they play a significant role in an athlete's life could be increasing.

Murray's situation with the Arizona Cardinals became a major talking point after he signed a contract extension in July.

The Cardinals originally included a clause in the deal that mandated Murray does four hours of independent film study each week during the season.

Discussion around the clause got to a point that some online sleuths went back over the course of Murray's career to track how he performed on weekends when Activision offered double experience weekends for Call of Duty.

Murray called an impromptu press conference on July 28 to discuss the situation.

"To think that I can accomplish everything that I’ve accomplished in my career and not be a student of the game and not have that passion and not take this serious, it’s almost…it’s disrespectful and it’s almost a joke,” Murray told reporters.

The Cardinals ultimately eliminated the study clause from Murray's contract because of the firestorm it caused.

In July 2019, Tyler Erzberger of ESPN.com wrote a story about some of the biggest stars in the NBA discussing their love of video games. A lot of the players who spoke to Erzberger were 25 or younger at the time, including Ben Simmons and Lonzo Ball.

Giannis Antetokounmpo told Erzberger he cut back on his gaming after entering the NBA.

DeRozan is certainly within his rights to feel like players could spend time focusing their attention on learning what opposing teams are doing to be better prepared for games. But there's nothing wrong with taking a break on off days to give your mind a rest by turning on the PS5 or Xbox.