USC Basketball: DeMar DeRozan Announces Intriguing New Media Venture

He's branching out!

Former USC Trojans Pac-10 All-Freshman Team swingman DeMar DeRozan, now a six-time NBA All-Star with the Chicago Bulls, has revealed that he will host a candid new interview show, "Dinners With DeMar," that will include frank conversations about mental health. 

The preview clip below, via his YouTube page (which will also host the show), includes footage of DeRozan's fellow All-Stars Damian Lillard and Draymond Green.

"I know for me growing up in an urban community, you never talked about the effects of mental health or what you [were] seeing every day on a daily basis affecting your mental health. It was never a discussion," DeRozan said.

"During All-Star Weekend [in 2018], just being overwhelmed with everything that was going on, I put out a tweet expressing my depression. It was just [an] emotional response," he noted, by way of establishing the impetus for his show. "Opened up a whole 'nother door I never would've expected. Relief, freedom, inspiration to others that it's okay to go through things, to be vulnerable, to break down. Be okay with figuring yourself out... Life is always going to test you, it's just about figuring out ways to get yourself out of that dark place when it feels like it comes. And that starts with having conversations."

"It's fitting to be able to be in this position to have open-heart dialogue about some real things that we deal with on a daily basis," DeRozan reflected. "I hope that this project will spread hope, inspiration and understanding."