No Matter What the Raptors Decide, Sam Dekker Is Finally At Ease

The Toronto Raptors have seen a new Sam Dekker after two years overseas taught him how to relax and believe in himself as he fights for his NBA life

Aaron Rose | Oct 14, 2021

No Matter What the Raptors Decide, Sam Dekker Is Finally At Ease /

Sam Dekker just wants to catch his breath.

From the moment the former Wisconsin sharpshooter entered the NBA as the 18th overall pick in the 2015 Draft it's been non-stop chaos. Just 11 games into his career his first coach, Kevin McHale of the Houston Rockets, was fired. In the nearly six years since the first change, Dekker has gone through almost a dozen coaches from McHale to J. B. Bickerstaff to Mike D'Antoni to Doc Rivers in Los Angeles to a pair in Cleveland, Ty Lue and Larry Drew, to Scott Brooks in Washington, and that's not counting two overseas teams, one in Russia and another in Turkey. There was a constant uneasiness through it all, a constant looking over the shoulder wondering when everything would be thrown into madness again.

“The NBA emphasis on mental health shown that we all feel that in this business,” Dekker said. “Being traded three times and not getting my options picked up and just fighting and clawing to stay in rotations and having great games and having horrible games, all that gets in your head a little bit.”

The past two years have been reinvigorating for Dekker, who is now one of three players fighting for the final two spots on the Toronto Raptors roster. It was a humbling experience, he said. When he left North America in 2019 he was a 24-year-old whose once promising NBA career had floundered. He thought he had basketball and the NBA figured out, thought he was too good for overseas basketball. But playing overseas, against grown men who think they’re good enough to play in the NBA teaches you something.

“I learned that I didn’t have it all figured out, that’s the biggest thing. You have to swallow your pride when you go over there, look yourself in the mirror, not be ashamed of yourself,” he said. “You just have to go and listen and grow as a person and that’s the hardest part, I think because we can all play. It’s figuring it out, figuring out your role, almost getting back to who you are.

“Basically, for me, it was shooting the ball consistently and confidently. I know I had it, I have my whole life, I just wasn’t the best at keeping that focus, keeping that as a strength of mine.”

He realized if he was ever going to get back to the NBA, he needed to change the way he thought about both himself and the game. He needed to relax, meditate, and breathe. He needed to calm himself down rather than psych himself up before the big moments.

“The six inches between the ears is probably the most important part in this business,” Dekker said.

For the better part of the last month, Dekker has been vying to make it back to the NBA. He’s been one of six Raptors players on partially guaranteed contracts fighting to crack Toronto’s final 17. It’s been tough, he said, not just because the climb back to the NBA is so difficult but because he’s competing against his friends, his brothers, Ishmail Wainright and Isaac Bonga, for Toronto’s final two spots.

“The quality of people we have in that locker room right now is — I was talking with my wife about this yesterday — I was saying that this is the coolest group of guys that I’ve been around within the NBA,” he said.

On Monday, in Toronto’s final preseason game, Dekker took a big step toward making the team. Coming into the game he knew it was going to be his last big chance to really impress the Raptors front office and coaching staff. He’d hardly played in the preseason prior to the game but the coaches kept telling him to be ready.

Two years ago, before Dekker left for Europe, he probably would have crumbled in the moment. He’d shot 29% from behind the arc in his NBA career and never quite looked like he was comfortable. With his NBA life on the line, it would have made sense if he’d been passive in the moment or clanked shots off the backboard one after another. But for the first time, Dekker was at ease. He played loose and let his shots come naturally. One three-pointer, then another one, and another from even deeper. He scored 12 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter alone, connecting on four of his five three-point attempts.

Now the waiting game begins. The final roster decision, by all accounts, is a difficult one. Toronto has three very talented players with different skill sets and only two will stick around and continue the NBA dream. Whatever happens, though, Dekker is ready for it. The storm of chaos has passed.

“Honestly, I’m just going to say, I’m going to be able to go to bed at night happy with what I was able to do,” he said. “The biggest thing that it solidified in my own mind is I am an NBA player. Sometimes the biggest person you have to prove that to is yourself. That’s where I am right now.”

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