Kings and Bulls agree to sign-and-trade deal with DeMar DeRozan – NBC Sports Bay Area & California
The Sacramento Kings have agreed to a sign-and-trade deal with the Chicago Bulls and San Antonio Spurs to acquire six-time NBA All-Star forward DeMar DeRozan, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Tim Bontemps reported Saturday, citing sources.
To sign DeRozan, the Kings will send veteran forward Harrison Barnes and an unprotected 2031 draft pick to the Spurs and forward Chris Duarte, two second-round picks and cash to the Bulls, according to Wojnarowski.
DeRozan will sign a three-year, $76 million deal with the Kings, Chris Haynes of TNT and Bleacher Report reported, citing sources. According to Haynes, the first two years of DeRozan’s contract are fully guaranteed, totaling $59 million, while the third year is partially guaranteed.
However, Wojnarowski cited sources who reported that DeRozan’s three-year contract was actually worth $74 million.
Shams Charania of The Athletic first reported that DeRozan and the Kings were in the process of finalizing a contract agreement.
The Kings have been after DeRozan for some time and sealed the deal on Saturday after the team hosted the 34-year-old at the Golden 1 Center. Haynes reported, citing sources, that Kings star De’Aaron Fox played “a critical role” in luring DeRozan to Sacramento.
Shortly after news of the sign-and-trade deal broke, DeRozan, along with Kings owner Vivek Ranadive and general manager Monte McNair, entered the G1C to watch Sacramento’s California Classic game against the Chinese national team. Naturally, Kings fans who had just seen the reports of the deal gave DeRozan a loud round of applause as he took his place courtside.
The Kings knew they needed to make a splash in the offseason after losing in the Western Conference play-in tournament last season and missing the playoffs. That move came in the form of DeRozan, who averaged 24.0 points and a league-high 37.8 minutes per game with the Bulls last season and finished second to Warriors star Steph Curry in voting for the NBA Clutch Player of the Year Award.
DeRozan has averaged at least 20.1 points per game in each of his last 11 NBA seasons, also playing for the Spurs and Toronto Raptors.
DeRozan, who turns 35 next month, could give the Kings a starting lineup with himself, forward Keegan Murray, guards Fox and Malik Monk and center Domantas Sabonis.
Monk, who officially signed a contract extension on Saturday, excelled in the sixth-man role but indicated he would like to be a starter, so if coach Mike Brown goes in that direction, the Kings will have an impressive starting lineup that can compete with pretty much any team in the Western Conference.
They will have to do this without Barnes and Duarte, two players who helped them become a force in the West again.
Barnes, 32, joined the Kings in a February 2019 trade from the Dallas Mavericks and averaged 14.7 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game over five seasons in Sacramento. He signed a three-year, $54 million contract with the Kings before last season and is eligible to make $18 million next season and $19 million in 2025-26. Now he will bring another experienced player to a Spurs team that also signed Chris Paul in the offseason to mentor young phenom Victor Wembanyama.
Duarte, 27, spent one season with the Kings after being acquired from the Indiana Pacers in an offseason trade for two second-round picks last year. He played 59 games, 11 of them starts, and averaged just 3.9 points, 1.8 rebounds and 0.7 rebounds in 12.2 minutes per game.
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