Norman Powell spoke with media Sunday for the first time since signing his four-year, $42-million extension earlier this week. We’ll post video of his scrum when it becomes available, but in the interim, here are some pretty great quotes from the former second-round pick.
Note: I wrote more about the extension & the example it sets at The Athletic.
On the decision to sign an extension or test the RFA market in July:
Honestly, I didn’t know if I was gonna get an extension or not. My whole focus was just to play out my year and see what happens in restricted free agency. I didn’t have the mindset that I was gonna get an extension, I just knew I wanted to stay here. No matter what happened, whether I got it or I went into restricted free agency, I wanted to stay here. I love Toronto, I love the city, I love the organization, I love my teammates, and I think we have something special here.
On his connection to the city of Toronto:
I think the organization and the city and country as a whole represents who I am. Being the underdogs, being overlooked constantly, especially the organization, we’re always middle-of-the-pack people who are less likely to make it to the finals, whatever it is. I think it’s been me, it’s been my whole career – Less likely to do this, that, make it to the NBA, going to play overseas – I was overlooked and said I wouldn’t make it. I love everything about the organization and my team, and it was just a place I wanted to be.
On his feelings throughout the process:
I was really in shock. it’s a big thing when you’re looking down at the text of what the offer’s gonna look like and how it’s gonna pan out over the four years. It’s crazy, especially growing up the way I grew up, struggling and just trying to make it. The first people I talked to when it was officially on the table was my family. Called them to the room when we were in Hawaii and sat ’em down, got my agent on the phone and had him over speaker, and he broke down everything. I was really just talking to them and then talked to DeMar just to pick his brain on everything and what he thought of it. It was a crazy couple days in Hawaii. It’s still crazy to me now, thinking about it, still getting notifications or comments on social media about it. It still hasn’t sunk in yet. I don’t know when it will. It’s a great feeling to have.
On what DeMar DeRozan had to say:
He just broke it down to me. What he thought when he was going through his extension his first time, just taking my time with it, don’t feel pressure, don’t feel rushed, and really think about what you wanna do. It’s a big decision, all the scenarios that could play out, whether I wanted to be here for the next three, four years. Just really breaking down every possible solution and the pros and cons of it. And just enjoy it. He said he’s gonna have my back no matter what decision I make. And that was that.
And here are some angry Powell dunks just because:
