Report: Kings ‘team to watch’ for DeRozan sign-and-trade with Bulls originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
The Kings have been mostly quiet this NBA offseason, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t putting in the work behind the scenes to land a big-name star.
Sacramento has been having conversations around a potential DeMar DeRozan sign-and-trade deal with the Chicago Bulls, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported, adding that a third team would need to be involved to pull it off.
Wojnarowski joined Sports Center on Friday morning and further broke down the discussions.
“Well, certainly DeMar DeRozan has played his last game for the Chicago Bulls. The one team that’s been dug in with him and trying to find a sign-and-trade scenario is the Sacramento Kings. They’ve been talking this week. They’re going to need a third team involved in a sign-and-trade. Chicago, while they’re certainly willing to facilitate helping DeMar DeRozan get more than the mid-level exception on a team that doesn’t have cap space, they don’t want to take back contracts. They’ll need a third team to route a bigger salary to.
“But those conversations continue and I think there are some other scenarios for DeMar DeRozan, but I think Sacramento right now is the team to watch between now and when the moratorium ends here in the next 24 to 48 hours.”
During the 2023-24 season with Chicago, DeRozan averaged 24.0 points, 5.3 assists and 4.3 rebounds per game.
The six-time NBA All-Star has been tied to several other teams, but Sacramento seemingly has been of interest in recent days, with ESPN’s Zach Lowe reporting Wednesday that the Kings are a “sneak” candidate to sign DeRozan.
“I think the Kings have a move yet to make in the offseason… I think they’ve sniffed around DeRozan,” Lowe said on Wednesday’s episode of “The Lowe Post” podcast.
After missing the playoffs last season, Kings general manager Monte McNair and Co. certainly have their work cut out for them this summer to string together a revamped roster able to compete in the stacked Western Conference.
And a player like DeRozan surely would help with those efforts.
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