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For all the talk of people constantly underrating or ignoring the Raptors, awareness of the team’s brand has continued to grow in the public conscience. The latest reports prove this: NBA.com announced their sales tallies for jerseys and merchandise this morning and, lo and behold, DeMar DeRozan made it to no. 14 in the league (cracking the top 15 for the first time in his career), while Toronto currently sits at no. 8 amongst the league’s teams.
I’ll leave it to boring human computer Darren Rovell to provide the full list.
Despite concerns over his future, LeBron James had the second best selling jersey in the NBA this postseason. pic.twitter.com/3ypU7Km4Nq
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) June 28, 2018
A note here: This tally is from April 14 to the end of June, so it includes the entirety of the NBA’s post-season. It makes sense that jersey sales for teams actually competing at the time would make a climb — e.g. we’re not seeing, like, Lonzo Ball in there — but we shouldn’t discount DeRozan’s presence on the list.
People want to bedeck themselves with his name — and Toronto’s!