San Antonio Spurs: Could DeMar DeRozan really help a contender?

DeMar DeRozan doesn’t appear long for the San Antonio Spurs, but is there a contender that would benefit from adding his services?

If there is one player in the NBA who deserves an NBA championship, it is DeMar DeRozan of the San Antonio Spurs. The one-time sacrificial lamb was used to get Kawhi Leonard to the Toronto Raptors, where they won a championship in 2019.

While the celebrations went on and on, DeRozan watched from far-away Texas as the organization where he made his name and was a multiple-time All-Star lifted the trophy without him. He is never going to get close to a championship with the Spurs and is an unrestricted free agent next year. The only issue is that he’s making over $27 million this coming season.

DeRozan has a player option on the deal, and it was a whole pandemic ago that it looked like he might actually opt out of all of that money to secure another long-term deal elsewhere. That seems unlikely to happen now, especially in these uncertain times, but whether through a possible trade or even next season, does DeRozan have the kind of game to help a contender?

The short answer here is no. DeRozan is one of the last throwbacks to an era of basketball that all too suddenly vanished. One where efficiency and 3-point shooting were not the buzz words of the day, and being able to create your own shot, both in the midrange and around the basket, got you paid.

DeRozan is a career 20.0 point per game scorer. His ability to score has never been in question. But he is also a career 28.2 percent shooter from deep. Even worse, his last two seasons, when really if anything this number should have been going up in line with how the league is now, were actually below that figure (25.7 percent in 2019-20, and an almost unspeakable 15.6 percent in 2018-19).

Factor in career averages of 3.6 assists per game to date (that number was a better 5.6 this year), and other than scoring DeRozan doesn’t have a massive influence over games if his shot is not falling. Worse than that, when it is falling, it is usually doing so in the kinds of areas that would give Daryl Morey sleepless nights.

But could it be that this might not actually be such a bad thing anymore? If the bubble in Orlando showed us anything, it is that certain trends may be swinging back in the other direction once more. The rebirth of the traditional big man for example, which did not look like it was going to happen anytime soon, actually came to be in the bubble.

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So what about midrange scorers? The players that peaked with Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant but have been ostracised by numbers and graphs in today’s game. Look at some of the teams that ended up falling short at winning a championship, and how the game of DeRozan could have really helped them.

The Milwaukee Bucks, for example, presumptive title favorites for much of the season, bowed out in the second round to the Miami Heat. Would DeRozan have swung that series in their favor? Hard to say because Jimmy Butler was a man on a mission. But if he had taken the place of Khris Middleton alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo for example, would his playmaking have taken some of the pressure off the back-to-back league MVP?

Middleton is an excellent player, an All-Star level talent. But he’s not quite the same as DeRozan. He is suited more to the way basketball is played now as a career 39.2 percent shooter from deep, a superb number. It is hard to argue taking DeRozan over Middleton, but when the shooters placed around Giannis were zoned in on, and the paint was blocked off, the Bucks ran out of ideas.

DeRozan would have provided something different. Something that has been in front of us the whole time, but which was not appreciated enough. Alongside LaMarcus Aldridge in San Antonio, it is too retro. Too old. But placing DeRozan into a more modern offensive scheme could pay dividends because he could be a great plan B or C.

Is $27 million a lot of money for somebody not to be your first option? Yes, but ask any number of teams close to contention if they’d consider it and they’d do it if they could. Tobias Harris for example, in what is one of the worst contracts in the league, is making $32 million this coming year. He is clearly the third option there behind Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, if not lower.

Imagine swapping Harris and DeRozan. The 76ers would likely have to attach some picks as well, but that is Morey’s area of expertise. DeRozan alongside two elite defensive players like Embiid and Simmons would cover up so much of his inefficiencies on that end. He would also bring a different element to how they play offensively, even if it could get cramped alongside Simmons.

The Heat look set going forward with Butler and a slew of young star players. But Heat president Pat Riley has always tried to add top talent when he could. Perhaps Butler thinks that getting whatever available players are out there, and there aren’t many top names this summer, is all that is required to win a title?

No matter what, we’ve reached a point where the game of DeMar DeRozan could be appreciated again and could be helpful to a contending franchise. The money is an issue but there are few guys who deserve to see out the rest of their prime in a better situation.