This summer, the San Antonio Spurs want to expedite their rebuilding process in order to get back to winning ways. San Antonio has identified its star player of the future in Victor Wembanyama, who performed admirably during his first season despite having very high expectations.
The key now is to assemble the ideal supporting cast to around him.
The Spurs have already made some moves in the draft and free agency, having signed Chris Paul for a one-year contract and selected Stephon Castle fourth overall in the 2024 draft. The Spurs are in a stronger position as a team to attempt to secure a play-in position even though these two transactions won’t make them title contenders the following season.
San Antonio possesses the second-most picks of any team through 2030 and still has considerable cap space to make other moves. DeMar DeRozan is one player they are supposedly interested in.
DeRozan is still unsigned because the majority of prominent free agents have already signed deals. The Miami Heat do not have the cap capacity to sign him, despite his expressed interest in playing for them. The Heat and the Chicago Bulls might still agree to a sign-and-trade, though.
The Bulls are interested in a sign-and-trade with Sacramento that revolves on Kevin Huerter, and the Sacramento Kings have also expressed interest. The Spurs have been mentioned as a potential landing site for DeRozan if neither deal works out, according to Barry Jackson of The
ntonio would have to work out a sign-and-trade move with Chicago in order to bring back DeRozan, who played for the Spurs from 2018 to 2021. It may be worth it, though, to bring in a player who is already familiar with the Spurs’ system.
He would add another veteran next to Paul to help mentor the young players on the roster. The Spurs’ worry lies in whether DeRozan wants to sign with a team that is still rebuilding rather than one where he could possibly win his first championship.
The Spurs should be interested in bringing back DeRozan. He would provide San Antonio with another reliable scorer and veteran to improve the team.
Despite being 34 years old, DeRozan is still putting up All-Star numbers. In 79 games last season with Chicago, he averaged 24.0 points, 4.3 rebounds and 5.3 assists while shooting 48.0 percent from the field. Although DeRozan is not the best three-point shooter, he did shoot 33.3 percent from beyond the arc last season.
DeRozan performed well when playing for the Spurs and is also familiar with their system. Following his inclusion in the transaction that brought Kawhi Leonard to Toronto and him to San Antonio as part of the Spurs-Raptors, he played for three seasons in the Alamo City.
Throughout those three seasons, DeRozan averaged 21.6 points and 50.1 percent from the field. In addition, he averaged a career-high 6.2 assists and 5.3 rebounds. His poor three-point shooting was the one thing that plagued him during his stay in San Antonio. His career low three-point percentage of 22.7 percent was achieved.
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