DeMar DeRozan Reveals Lakers Chose Russell Westbrook Over Him in 2021 Offseason
September 21, 2024
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NBA All-Star guard DeMar DeRozan will enter his 16th season soon. DeRozan will be with his fourth team in the league after he was traded to the Sacramento Kings from the Chicago Bulls this summer.
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DeRozan will look to take the Kings over the top, led by their young star duo, De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis. DeRozan will be huge for the Kings this season as they look to be a perennial contender not only in the Western Conference but in the entire league.
The 35-year-old will play in his home state for the first time in his career. The Southern California native will be closer to home, and while he’s looking forward to it, DeRozan assumed that this was going to happen a couple of years back.
DeRozan appeared on the Underground Lounge with Lou Williams and Spank Horton, revealing that the Los Angeles Lakers chose former NBA MVP Russell Westbrook over him in the 2021 offseason.
DeMar DeRozan #11 of the Chicago Bulls shoots a jump shot over Carmelo Anthony #7 of the Los Angeles Lakers during the second quarter at Staples Center on November 15, 2021 in Los Angeles, California…. DeMar DeRozan #11 of the Chicago Bulls shoots a jump shot over Carmelo Anthony #7 of the Los Angeles Lakers during the second quarter at Staples Center on November 15, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. NBA All-Star guard DeMar DeRozan reveals that he thought he was going to be a Laker before they traded for Russell Westbrook in 2021.
Photo by Katelyn Mulcahy/Getty Images
“It was almost a done deal before Russ went there.It caught me off guard cuz I didn’t more so see the Russ thing happening. It was close”
DeMar DeRozan on joining the Lakers before Russ trade.
“It was almost a done deal before Russ went there..It caught me off guard cuz I didn’t more so see the Russ thing happening. It was close”
Lakers could have had Buddy Hield and DeMar DeRozan but chose Russell Westbrook. pic.twitter.com/j36OHY42Wq
— DeMarvelous Fox & Ox (@SecurinDaBagley) September 19, 2024
In a separate interview with The Athletic’s Sam Amick, DeRozan touched on the 2021 offseason and said that while he wanted to play for his hometown team, he decided not to dwell on it once the deal didn’t go through.
“Obviously I have my selfish reasons of wanting to be able to play at home, (but) sometimes it just doesn’t work out that way,” DeRozan relayed to Sam Amick of The Athletic. “And sometimes it probably isn’t the best decision for me either. So after that didn’t happen, I didn’t dwell on it. I wasn’t mad. They made their choice, and I just left it at that.”
Instead of landing with the Lakers, where he thought he would, DeRozan inked a three-year, $81.9 million sign-and-trade deal with the Bulls in 2021.
Three years later, the Lakers had another opportunity to sign DeRozan, but because L.A. had zero space to make a move for him, he signed with the Kings this past summer.
“Yeah, it did,” DeRozan told Amick. “But after the last time, the last situation, you really don’t get your hopes all the way up. I think the first time before I went to Chicago (in 2021), that was the closest it had been. And even for me, I thought it was going to be that. But when that didn’t happen, I didn’t have high hopes because you already see how it could play out.”
It seems like DeRozan will never get a shot to play for his hometown team after they had multiple chances to acquire the six-time All-Star.
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