A six-time All-Star just signed for $3.9 million. That is not a typo, and the Denver Nuggets are the team that benefits.
DeMar DeRozan agreed to a one-year deal with Denver, per ESPN’s Shams Charania, after becoming an unrestricted free agent when Sacramento waived him in July. The Nuggets beat out Miami, Washington and New Orleans for his services.
He Is Still Producing
This is not a nostalgia signing. DeRozan appeared in 77 games for the Kings last season and averaged 18.4 points, 4.1 assists and 2.9 rebounds while shooting 49.7 percent from the field.
Those numbers on a minimum-level contract are absurd value. Denver just added a bucket-getter who can create his own shot in the mid-range, draw fouls, and run second-unit offense when Nikola Jokic sits.
That last part is the whole reason this works. The Nuggets have spent years watching their offense collapse the second Jokic goes to the bench. Every playoff run features the same stretch where Denver’s non-Jokic minutes get torched and the starters have to dig out of a hole they did not create.
The Fit Is Better Than People Think
The standard criticism of DeRozan is that he does not shoot threes and needs the ball. Both of those are true. Neither is disqualifying next to Jokic.
Jokic operates from the elbow and the post, which means Denver’s offense does not require its guards and wings to space to the corners the way a standard drive-and-kick system does. DeRozan working out of the mid-post while Jokic reads the defense is a legitimately interesting combination, and the two of them are among the best passers at their respective positions.
Denver’s front office reportedly made an aggressive recruiting push, walking DeRozan through exactly how he would complement Jokic and Jamal Murray as an additional playmaker. That pitch clearly landed, since he took Denver over teams that could have offered a bigger role.
Why He Took the Money
DeRozan is chasing a title. He has been one of the most respected scorers of his generation and has almost nothing to show for it in the postseason. Denver offers a real chance to change that alongside the best player in the world.
At this stage of his career, a one-year deal on a contender is worth more than a larger contract on a team going nowhere. He has made his money. This is about the résumé.
The West Just Got Harder
The Nuggets were already a problem when healthy. Adding a 6-time All-Star scorer for the minimum while other contenders shuffle rotation pieces is the kind of move that decides a playoff series in May.
Denver did not need to be better. They got better anyway, and it cost them almost nothing.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.