Free agent-to-be Kevin Durant will reportedly meet with six NBA teams as he decides where to take his talents next season.
DeMar DeRozan? Just one.
As ESPN’s Tim MacMahon reported over the weekend, the two-time All-Star does not plan to meet with any teams except for the Toronto Raptors once free agency begins on July 1st.
DeRozan, 26, opted out of the final year of his contract earlier this month, making him an unrestricted free agent and available for any club to sign.
Raptors GM Masai Ujiri, presumably knowing that, given the alternatives, his team would be taking a major step backwards should DeRozan walk, stated at his season-ending press conference “our number one goal is to bring DeMar back here,” adding that “We feel great that he wants to come back to our organization.”
DeRozan, who will suit up for Team USA at the Olympics this summer, averaged a career-best 23.5 points per game in 2015-16 and joined LeBron James, Steph Curry, Russell Westbrook, and the aforementioned Durant as the only players to average more than 23 points, four assists, and four rebounds per game while shooting more than 44% from the floor. He also passed Vince Carter to become the Raps’ second-highest scorer in franchise history, and has scored more playoff points than any Raptor ever.
While he struggled early in the playoffs, DeRozan turned things around and had the highest game score of any Raptor during the Conference Finals.
To anyone who’s followed the DeRozan free-agency situation, it should come as little surprise that the star shooting guard isn’t searching for greener pastures. Drafted ninth overall by the Raptors in 2009, DeRozan has always maintained his loyalty to the franchise, extremely proud for his part in helping to take a team from the East’s basement back to the playoffs and, this past season, past the second round and all the way to the Conference Finals for the first time in team history. Throughout it all, DeRozan, who has the word “loyalty” tattooed on his non-shooting hand, has maintained his desire to remain a Raptor.
“My mindset has always been Toronto,” DeRozan told reporters when he met with the media following the Raptors’ 4-2 series loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. “I’ve always preached it. I was passionate about it when we were losing, when we were terrible. I said I was going to stick through this whole thing, and I want to be that guy who brings this organization to where it is now. I definitely don’t want to switch that up after we win.”
Besides, if it’s green he wants, staying put is his best option— with the salary cap projected to be $94 million, the best deal he could land outside Toronto is four years and $114 million, while the Raptors can offer a five-year max. contract worth a total of $153 million. The Raptors, it should be noted, also likely give DeRozan the best chance to win.
All told, 21 teams are expected have max cap space this off-season, which should lead to a free-agent frenzy (and some absolutely mind-numbing contracts being handed out). Durant is the free agent class’s big fish, but once he signs a deal there’ll be a long lineup of teams trying to land a top-option scorer like DeRozan. They could be waiting for a long time.
