DeMar DeRozan Has Returned To California
It might be hard to believe, but the Sacramento Kings actually made a trade. DeMar DeRozan, the Compton native, is headed to Sacramento on a three-team sign-and-trade with the Kings and Spurs. Does this put Sacramento into contention in the West? What do the Bulls do next, and how do the Spurs benefit from this deal?
The Kings and Monte McNair have watched several Western Conference contenders improve their teams over the last few weeks. Today, they decide that now’s the time to make some changes of their own.
FULL TRADE DETAILS
Kings Receive: DeMar DeRozan
Bulls Receive: Chris Duarte, Two SRPs, Cash
Spurs Receive: Harrison Barnes, 2031 FRP swap
Kings
DeRozan signs with the Kings on a contract worth $74 million over three years. The soon-to-be 35-year-old averaged 24 PPG last season and will be a welcome addition at small forward for the Kings. The Kings have been rumored for an upgrade at the wing position for years at this point.
The contract might seem big for a guy of DeRozan’s age, but you bite that bullet if you’re Monte McNair. They are trying to win now and are not worried about how much money he’ll be paid in 3 years' time.
Fit-wise, DeRozan isn’t perfect, as the Kings already have Sabonis and Fox, who have proven to be below-average 3-point shooters. The same goes for DeMar, who shot 33% from downtown last season. He has also never been a really quality defender, and while the backcourt of Fox and Ellis is excellent defensively, Keegan Murray is a great POA defender.
Sabonis has constantly been exposed defensively in his time in Sacramento. Having him and DeMar on the court together for the majority of the game will be scary defensively, and not in a good way.
This is still a nice pickup for Sacramento, getting an all-star-quality veteran to run the SF for the next few years without giving up that much for him. Barnes has been on the trade block for a while, Duarte only got spot minutes, and the draft capital given up is very little in comparison to the Mikal Bridges and Dejounte Murray trades.
Bulls
As predicted when they traded Alex Caruso to OKC, the Bulls were far from finished and have made their second "trade" of the off-season. The return is definitely underwhelming, but considering he was going to walk for nothing anyway, a couple of SRPs is a nice consolation.
It’ll be fun to see what they do with Lavine and Vucevic now, provided they actually get moved. Both guys have low trade value, so I think the best they can hope for at this point is a salary dump.
DeRozan was excellent during his time with the Bulls. He made two all-star appearances in three seasons and finished second in the Clutch Player of the Year race last season, which many felt he deserved.
The Bulls continue to rebuild and slowly eliminate their veteran contracts, paving the way for a Coby White/Matas Buzelis backcourt of the future.
Spurs
The Kings and Bulls needed a third team involved in the trade for salary purposes, and San Antonio was more than happy to oblige. They took on the remainder of the Harrison Barnes contract and got the rights to a 2031 pick swap for it. It's pretty irrelevant for them now, but who knows what that pick ends up being?
DeMar DeRozan
Born in Compton, surely DeRozan will be thrilled to be back in California. His NBA career thus far has consisted of Toronto, San Antonio, and Chicago. Sacramento is going to feel like Hawaii in comparison.
At nearly 35 years old, DeMar probably only has a few All-Star quality years left in the NBA. Now he finds himself on a relatively young, playoff-quality team in the stacked Western Conference and will be hoping the new-look team has what it takes to make a deep playoff push. He’s about to find out why the Kings fan base is considered one of the best in the NBA, as they’ll no doubt make him feel extremely welcome back home in the capital of California.
As has been the theme with trades this off-season, this was a pretty good trade for all parties involved. Only time will tell if Sacramento ends up being the winner of the trade. But considering the amount they gave up signing him, it seems more than likely that Monte McNair will come out of this one looking like a genius.
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