The Denver Nuggets just stole a six-time All-Star for the price of a rotation player. DeMar DeRozan agreed to a one-year, $3.88 million deal with Denver after the Sacramento Kings waived him earlier this offseason, cutting bait on the $25.7 million he would have counted against their cap.
This is the kind of move contenders make. Denver had already cleared runway by trading Peyton Watson to Cleveland, and then Nikola Jokic, Aaron Gordon, and Jamal Murray got on the phone. DeRozan picked the ring shot over more money in Miami, Washington, or New Orleans.
He was right to. At 37, DeRozan has spent his entire career carrying franchises that were either capped out, rebuilding, or running the wrong system. Toronto peaked with him as a No. 2 option. Chicago never gave him a real co-star. Sacramento fell apart around him. Denver is the first legitimate title team he has ever suited up for.
The fit on the court is cleaner than the skeptics want to admit. Jokic makes every scorer better because he draws two defenders every possession. DeRozan is one of the best midrange isolation players of his generation, and getting a Jokic pocket pass on the short roll with an open 15-footer is the easiest bucket he will get in his life.
Defense is the concern. It always is with DeRozan. But Denver has Aaron Gordon to hide him behind, and in the playoffs the Nuggets will pick their matchups carefully. He does not need to guard Anthony Edwards. He needs to make the second-unit shot creator problem go away.
The Kings, meanwhile, look like the loser here twice over. They could not find a trade partner willing to take on the contract. They ate the money to move on. And now the guy they gave up on is going to a title contender for less than the veteran minimum on some rebuilds.
Sacramento’s front office has been running in circles for two years. The De’Aaron Fox trade, the Domantas Sabonis contract, the DeRozan signing, and now the DeRozan release. Every move is a reaction to the last one, and none of them have added up to a coherent team.
For DeRozan, this is the swing. He has been to the conference finals once, in 2016 with the Raptors. He has never been past it. Playing 28 minutes a night as a bench scorer for a Jokic-led team is the best shot he will ever get, and he was smart enough to take it.
Denver was already a top-three team in the West. Adding a six-time All-Star for less than what most teams pay their 12th man just widened the gap. This is how great front offices operate when the market throws them a gift.
The Nuggets took it. The Kings should be embarrassed.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
