DeMar DeRozan was expected to take the Sacramento Kings to new heights after they acquired him this past offseason but that hasn’t been the case thus far. The Kings currently have an 11-13 record in the 2024-25 season and an anonymous NBA executive told ESPN’s Brian Windhorst that DeRozan’s play has never driven winning.
“In the past six years with the San Antonio Spurs and Chicago Bulls, DeRozan has had one winning season and one trip to the playoffs,” Windhorst wrote. “‘DeRozan is a highly skilled player who is great to have in the locker room and a guy who you want to give the ball to at the end of a game,’ one executive said. ‘But his play hasn’t driven winning, and it’s something that unfortunately has been the case throughout his career and it’s part of why he’s changed teams a bunch.'”
I believe it is a bit unfair to make such a claim about DeRozan, considering the success he had with the Toronto Raptors. He led the Raptors to three straight 50-win seasons from 2015-16 to 2017-18 and the franchise had never won 50 games in a single campaign prior to that.
DeRozan also took the Raptors to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in franchise history in 2016. Sure, he was never able to make it to the NBA Finals with them, but LeBron James was standing in his way.
James-led teams dominated the Eastern Conference for nearly a decade from 2011 to 2018. There’s no shame as such in DeRozan’s Raptors losing to them, although LeBron did devastatingly dominate them.
As for DeRozan’s career post-Toronto, I think it’s safe to say he hasn’t played on too many talented teams. The San Antonio Spurs and the Chicago Bulls weren’t exactly brimming with talent and I wouldn’t hold it against him that he wasn’t able to lead them to the postseason consistently.
What I would hold against DeRozan, though, would be if the Kings fail to make it to the playoffs this season. While the six-time All-Star was a bit of a questionable fit on the team next to stars De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis, no one expected them to struggle as much as they have with him.
The Kings are currently 12th in the Western Conference and have lost seven of their last 10 games. The only teams below them in the West are the Portland Trail Blazers, Utah Jazz, and New Orleans Pelicans, three teams destined to pick high in next year’s draft.
While DeRozan certainly has to take some of the blame for the Kings’ bad start, he has played fairly well. The 35-year-old is averaging 22.7 points, 4.1 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 1.5 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game in 2024-25 while shooting 49.8% from the field.
DeRozan is doing what he always does, but his play isn’t leading to wins for the Kings. I still expect them to turn things around over time, but with the West being so strong, they’re going to have a hard time climbing up the standings. Fortunately for the Kings, they face one of the weaker teams in the conference next in the Jazz at Golden 1 Center on Sunday at 9 PM ET.
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