Hoops Habit
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NBA: 4 players whose talent is being wasted right now

By Luke Duffy

WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 05: DeMar DeRozan #10 of the San Antonio Spurs dribbles in front of Bradley Beal #3 of the Washington Wizards during the first half at Capital One Arena on April 05, 2019 in Washington, DC. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 05: DeMar DeRozan #10 of the San Antonio Spurs dribbles in front of Bradley Beal #3 of the Washington Wizards during the first half at Capital One Arena on April 05, 2019 in Washington, DC. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images) /
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3. DeMar DeRozan

DeMar DeRozan may hold the title right now as the player in the league that fans should feel most sorry for. A legend in Toronto for what he was able to achieve with the Raptors as they rose from obscurity to champions, he was cruelly traded to the San Antonio Spurs as the organization put the final piece in place to win a championship.

Getting to that point wouldn’t have been possible without DeRozan, and indeed the Spurs felt that he was as good a player as they could get for Kawhi Leonard, the wantaway superstar who would then go on to do his best Michael Jordan impression and willed his new team to a championship last year.

Lost in all of this however is how good DeRozan still is. At 30 he is still close to the peak of his powers, the 22.2 points he was averaging this season a level below some of his All-Star year numbers (DeRozan is a four-time All-Star), but still impressive nonetheless. Both he and teammate LaMarcus Aldridge have also committed to taking more 3-pointers.

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While this was a transition that wasn’t going as smoothly for DeRozan (26.7 percent) than it was for Aldridge (38.9 percent) this season, DeRozan was seen as somebody who was among the last guys fighting to keep the mid-range game relevant as a viable way of scoring all of your points. He has moved away from that slightly, while still scoring in all of the ways we have come to expect.

But unlike when he was part of a fun Raptors team in the weaker Eastern Conference, DeRozan is now out of sight and out of mind. The Spurs are not the lock to make the playoffs they once were, and are now the third-best, and just as important here the third most interesting team in the state of Texas alone.

So while somebody like Young has so much time on their side to work their way into a position of being a star who isn’t wasting prime years toiling away in a bad situation, DeRozan is at the other end of that. His prime isn’t going to last forever, and it is taking place on a roster that can’t compete seriously in the West and is in a small market. As long as he is there, that will likely continue to be the case.

It’s a shame given how fun DeRozan is to watch and how good he can be.