Spurs’ Carroll says he ‘just didn’t jell’ with Popovich

San Antonio Spurs' DeMarre Carroll plays during an NBA basketball game against the Philadelphia 76ers, Friday, Nov. 22, 2019, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum) San Antonio Spurs' DeMarre Carroll plays during an NBA basketball game against the Philadelphia 76ers, Friday, Nov. 22, 2019, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum) Photo: Matt Slocum, Associated Press Photo: Matt Slocum, Associated Press Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close Spurs’ Carroll says he ‘just didn’t jell’ with Popovich 1 / 5 Back to Gallery

CHICAGO – It’s been a bust of a season for Spurs forward DeMarre Carroll.

Yet there he was Thursday night looking like the happiest guy in the world while surrounded by family, friends and media at the launch of his colorful “Amare” athleisure clothing collection at the high-end men’s apparel shop Agriculture Custom Clothiers on Chicago’s near north side.

“This has helped me tremendously,” said Carroll, referring to how fashion has provided refuge from his frustrating, perplexing situation with the Spurs. “This season has been a blessing in disguise. It made me start looking at things for my future and being part of the fashion world is something I want to do.”

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But make no mistake: The 11th-year pro isn’t ready to retire.

“Another opportunity will come for me,” said Carroll, 33. “San Antonio, I don’t know where (it went wrong), what happened, what the hiccup was. But, at the end of the day, I am totally healthy. I work out every day, twice a day. When that opportunity comes, I will be ready to take advantage of it.”

Signed by the Spurs in free agency last summer to a three-year deal worth nearly $21 million, Carroll has played in just 15 of the team’s 54 games and not at all since logging two minutes in a Jan. 8 win at Boston. He has been inactive for the last 15 straight contest and was not with the team Feb. 2 when it embarked on the first portion of the eight-game rodeo trip.

“I don’t know what went wrong, what happened,” Carroll said. “I felt like San Antonio was going to be a great place for me, for my talents, but it didn’t work out.”

A 3-and-D specialist, Carroll indeed seemed like a good fit for the Spurs, who struggled in both of those areas last season and continue to be challenged defensively. He arrived in San Antonio eager to embrace coach Gregg Popovich’s system after posting a double-figure per-game scoring average in five of the previous six seasons, including averaging 11.1 over 67 games for Brooklyn in 2018-19.

“Coach Pop is a great individual to me,” Carroll said. “Outside of basketball, we talk about family, all kinds of stuff. But with the basketball thing, we just didn’t jell.”

Popovich has offered little insight into the situation other than what he told reporters in mid-December.

“He’s good people,” Popovich said. “At this point, it’s a new program for him and he’s got a couple guys ahead of him at that position. It’s been tough for him to get minutes, but he’s been professional about it and done everything I could ask.”

The Spurs explored trading Carroll, but the Feb. 6 league deadline for teams to broker deals passed without any movement.

Asked if he was surprised a trade didn’t happen, Carroll said, “Yeah, but no. Me being 33 and being in the league 11, 12 years, I know the NBA. If you really want to trade somebody, the biggest thing you have to do is maybe show their value, play them a little bit. Not playing really hurt my value a lot. It got a lot of teams probably second-guessing and saying, ‘Is he hurt? Is something wrong with him?’ ”

The Spurs are paying Carroll $7 million this season and he’s set to receive a guaranteed $6.65 million in 2020-21. Only $1.35 million of the $7 million the pact calls for him to collect in 2021-22 is guaranteed.

Asked if a buyout is a possibility, a tricky situation given how much money remains on his contract, Carroll said he visited with his agent, Mark Bartelstein, in Chicago during All-Star Weekend.

“He is handling that,” Carroll said. “Him and (Spurs general manager) Brian (Wright) and all of them. I don’t know what direction we are going to go. But at the end of the day, at 33, I don’t want to waste my talents just sitting at the end of the bench, knowing I could help a team produce.”

Despite the downturn in his career, Carroll has remained positive and supportive of his teammates.

“My dad always said, ‘You never want to let people see you sweat,’ ” Carroll said. “At the end of the day, I am positive. I am blessed.”

One of his blessings is his love of fashion, which he said stems from his childhood in Birmingham, Ala.

“Growing up my mother was always telling me, ‘When you leave the house, you represent the family, so you’ve always got to dress well,” Carroll said.

After years of wearing clothing and accessories from the likes of Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Dolce & Gabbana, Carroll said “it finally clicked in my head” to come up with his own design.

That’s where a Canadian men’s clothing designer named Christopher Bates, who studied fashion, design and art at the Istituto Marangoni in Milan, Italy, came in. The two met in Toronto, where Carroll played for the Raptors from 2015-2017.

“He said, ‘Let’s collab together,’ so I went with him to his manufacturer in Italy,” Carroll said. “We went through fabric and came out with this line, which I named after my oldest son, Amare.”

After Carroll gave Bates a “vision” of what he wanted, including instructions that the design reflect his outgoing personality, the two tossed ideas back and forth.

“DeMarre is a fashion icon, like a real style maverick,” Bates said. “We connected through fashion. I did a custom suit for him in Toronto and he was going to walk the runway at Toronto Fashion Week wearing my line, but he had to practice that night. But after practice he came to the after-party and we hung out there and got to know each other better, and he said he wanted to do something in fashion.”

Bates said he was impressed by Carroll’s hands-on approach during their collaboration.

“There are a lot of people who are wealthy or who are famous and they just put their name on something,” Bates said. “But I knew with him it would be different because he is really into fashion. He’s been a part of the process since the early beginning. This is his style. It’s his brand. I am behind the scenes more helping him develop into.”

Asked to describe “Amare,” Bates called it a “luxury, athleisure line that is very vibrant and bold.”

“We do all the production in Italy with artesian-level craftsmanship and Italian materials, really cutting edge and beautiful material,” Carroll said. “It’s comfort-oriented, and that’s what athleisure is. You can go about your daily business, but a little bit more casual comfortable but still looking cool.”

Bates and Carroll said their goal is to make “Amare” an international brand.

“Athleisure is a really hot segment right now and this is a true, pure athleisure brand,” Bates said. “It’s born from DeMarre’s love for sports and fashion. It’s authentic. This is our first collection, our first launch event, so we are really just starting, but I’m already working on season two, and DeMarre has seen the initial designs and has approved them and provided feedback.”

Meanwhile, Carroll will continue working out in hopes that he can soon resurrect his career with another NBA team.

“I want to play; I am going to play,” Carroll said. “I don’t know when it will be, but I am going to be ready when the opportunity comes.”