In Chicago, star swingman DeMar DeRozan is getting rewarded for coming off the best season of his career.
In a tweet by The Athletic’s Shams Charania, he revealed that DeRozan is set to sign a new deal with Nike that will keep him as one of the premier faces of the brand.
Fresh off making All-NBA second team, Chicago Bulls star DeMar DeRozan is signing a new four-year deal with Nike that keeps him as the featured face of Kobe Bryant’s iconic line, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium
Fresh off making All-NBA second team, Chicago Bulls star DeMar DeRozan is signing a new four-year deal with Nike that keeps him as the featured face of Kobe Bryant’s iconic line, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 1, 2022
After 9 seasons with the Raptors, DeRozan was sent to San Antonio as part of the blockbuster Kawhi Leonard deal. There, DeMar played well alongside his co-captain, LaMarcus Aldridge, and thrived in Gregg Popovich’s world-renowned system.
But since coming to Chicago last summer, the 5x All-Star has stepped up his game and built up his clout as one of the best wing players in basketball.
In 76 games, he was Chicago’s leading scorer with an average of 27.9 points per game on 50.4% shooting. He has become a leader for the Bulls and one of the featured faces of Chicago basketball.
“The moment when you realize that you really gotta bring it every single night in that arena, I think it was four, five games into the season, and we’re playing the Knicks. I take the game-winner, an air-ball. I just felt the whole vibe, like everything, ‘what the f**k? What was that?’ I felt like I disrespected the aura with these fans and what they used to see from MJ hitting game winners,” said DeRozan on his experience with the Bulls. “You know, he lived for those moments, and being in that moment for the first time, my fourth, fifth game in the season, and I take that shot, it was like, I told myself I would never be in that situation again. So you look back at all the moments that I had in that arena, it was more like, this is the ghost– I’m trying to inherit the ghost of Michael on this fadeaway with the clock running down. I carried that to heart after that moment because you felt it from the fans, you felt it on social media… And you hear his music when you come out, you gotta live up to it.”
It makes sense for Nike to take care of DeMar after coming off such an impressive season. But the question is, how long will he continue at that pace?
That much remains to be seen, but there is clearly a strong level of confidence that his performance through the 2021-22 campaign was no fluke. It’ll be up to him to prove it next season.
