Kings acquire DeMar DeRozan in three-team sign-and-trade

Kings acquire DeMar DeRozan in three-team sign-and-trade

The Sacramento Kings officially landed six-time All-Star forward DeMar DeRozan from the Chicago Bulls in a three-team sign-and-trade that also involved the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday night, ESPN NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski was among the first to report.

As a result of the trade, the Spurs will be acquiring Kings forward Harrison Barnes and an unprotected 2031 first-round pick swap from the Kings and the Bulls will receive guard Chris Duarte and two second-round picks.

The sign-and-trade will be worth three years, $76 million, Shams Charania of The Athletic reported. Any sign-and-trade must be for at least three years–though the first year is the only one that must be guaranteed. It will also hard-cap the Kings below the $178.1 million first apron, which they are still more than $13 million away from.

How about that, Sacramento?!?

DeRozan, who will turn 35-years-old in Aug., will be one of the most accomplished Kings free agent signees in their recent history. He averaged 24.0 points, 4.3 rebounds and 5.3 assists last season, shooting 48.0 percent from the floor with a 58.4 true-shooting percentage.

DeRozan led the NBA in minutes played in 2023-24 and has played at least 84 percent of his team’s games each of the last nine seasons–including at least 90 percent eight times and 95 percent four times. Even as he’s in his mid-30s, he’s remarkably durable and his game hasn’t taken any steep decline.

I worry about his basketball fit alongside Domantas Sabonis and, to a lesser extent, De’Aaron Fox. The concerns exist with Sabonis because both players primarily operate within the same spots (mid-range) on the floor. There could be some neat synergy, but it also could get very clunky, very quickly.

Those exact concerns exist with Fox, who’s taken at least 45 percent of his attempts in the mid-range each of the last three seasons and four times over his seven-year career, per Cleaning The Glass.

He’s a far more willing 3-point shooter than DeRozan is–having taken at least 5.0 3-pointers per game in three of the last four years–and is better at generating rim pressure. But the spacing issues between the trio persist. They are still surrounded by complimentary shooting (Keegan Murray, Kevin Huerter, Malik Monk) while offloading one of their least effective wings in Barnes, which helps. But at what cost is this all worth it for an older DeRozan?

Sacramento sending an unprotected swap in 2031 could be a disaster. It may be seven years out, but the Kings aren’t a … let’s say a historically successful franchise in a loaded conference, per se. Both Sabonis and Fox will be in their mid-30s while DeRozan will (likely) be retired.

The Spurs have done a beautiful job stacking first-round swaps–especially for seasons after Victor Wembanyama presumably gets paid. They’re taking calculated risks–albeit seven years into the future, where everything’s unpredictable–so getting involved in the final hours isn’t a surprise.

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