The Sacramento Kings couldn’t find a single team willing to trade for DeMar DeRozan, a six-time All-Star averaging 18.4 points per game, and somehow that’s the best news of his career.
https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/2074199899369808217
Think about what it took to reach this moment. Seventeen years. Nine in Toronto, building something that always came up short. Then San Antonio, where the culture was right but the window was already closing. Then Chicago, where he put up his best numbers on a team that couldn’t stay healthy long enough to matter. Then Sacramento, which finished 22-60 this season (their worst record since 2008-09) and still couldn’t move him despite months of trying. The Kings had a $25.74 million contract with only $10 million guaranteed and zero takers. A veteran scorer who shoots around 50 percent. Nobody called.
My brother texts me Suns highlights from Phoenix sometimes, usually with “at least our guy tried” energy. DeRozan has been that guy his entire career: the tried-his-best, wrong-address guy. That changes Wednesday when he hits unrestricted free agency.
He is 36 years old, turns 37 in August, and for the first time in 17 years, he gets to pick.
The landing spots matter here because they say something about what kind of ending this could be. Golden State has confirmed interest per ESPN’s Anthony Slater. The Warriors want him if LeBron doesn’t sign there, and how that circus resolves will reshape half the league’s offseason. Toronto has reported interest too, which would be the full-circle story that writes itself: the franchise that drafted him in 2009, now offering him a curtain call. Sentimental. Probably not the right fit for a player who still has something left.
Miami is the most interesting conversation. The Heat have Giannis now via trade, they lost Norman Powell’s wing scoring to the Bulls, and they need exactly what DeRozan has always provided: a mid-range creator who doesn’t need the ball in transition to be effective. DeRozan and Giannis running pick-and-roll, with spacing and veteran IQ around them — that’s an actual basketball team. They’re hard-capped due to the Giannis trade mechanics, which limits what they can offer, but DeRozan doesn’t need max money. He needs a team worth caring about.
That’s the part the waiver framing misses. Getting released feels like a verdict on a player’s value. But Sacramento, a franchise that just lost 60 games and spent months shopping him to no avail, releasing you is not a verdict. It’s a broken clock finally reading the right time. He wasn’t going to win anything there. Nobody was.
For nearly two decades, DeRozan’s career was defined by being the most professional guy on the least functional roster. He showed up, produced, and watched other teams advance in May. Now the teams with actual infrastructure are calling. The NBA offseason is moving fast. DeRozan’s next chapter finally has stakes worth following.
The Kings waived him. He should send them a thank-you card.
