DeMar DeRozan is headed from the Bulls to the Kings in a three-team deal that also includes the Spurs, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). San Antonio will receive Harrison Barnes, while Chicago will get Chris Duarte, two second-round picks and cash. In addition, the Spurs will get an unprotected pick swap from Sacramento in 2031.
The deal is a sign-and-trade for DeRozan, who ranked sixth on our list of the top 50 free agents for this summer. His new contract will be worth approximately $76MM over three years, according to Chris Haynes of TNT and Bleacher Report (Twitter link), who adds that the first two seasons are fully guaranteed with a partial guarantee for the final year.
The contract includes $49MM in guaranteed money over the first two seasons, per Sean Cunningham of FOX 40 Sacramento (Twitter link). It also features bonuses for being named an All-Star, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks.
The trade leaves the Kings hard capped at the $178.1MM first apron, per cap expert Yossi Gozlan (Twitter link). They’re about $5.8MM beneath the $170.8MM luxury tax with 12 players under contract. Gozlan points out that Sacramento can add two more players to its roster without going into tax territory, but using most of its remaining $12.8MM non-taxpayer mid-level exception will push the team over the threshold.
Sacramento will also create a $5.9MM trade exception in the deal, Gozlan adds.
The Kings were heavily pursing DeRozan, who traveled to Sacramento for a meeting today with team officials. The 34-year-old forward was extremely productive during his three seasons in Chicago, averaging 25.5 points, 4.7 rebounds and 5.1 assists and finishing near the top in the Clutch Player of the Year balloting the past two seasons.
The six-time All-Star will now team with De’Aaron Fox, Domantas Sabonis, Malik Monk and Keegan Murray on what should be one of the league’s most exciting offenses. The Kings will be counting on that group to lead them back to the playoffs after being eliminated in the play-in tournament last season.
Parting with DeRozan is the latest step in an offseason roster shakeup in Chicago, which has already traded Alex Caruso and lost Andre Drummond in free agency. The Bulls are shifting to a younger and less expensive roster in hopes of eventually rebuilding into a more competitive team.
Duarte, a 27-year-old swingman with three years of NBA experience, is the latest addition, but it’s uncertain how large his role will be. He appeared in 59 games with Sacramento last season, but averaged just 3.9 points and 1.8 rebounds in 12.2 minutes per night. Duarte is under contract for one more season at $5.9MM and is eligible for an extension through October 21. Chicago will create a $17.6MM trade exception in the deal, according to Bobby Marks of ESPN (Twitter link).
Barnes joins Chris Paul as veteran offseason additions in San Antonio. The 32-year-old is extremely durable, playing in all 82 games the past two seasons. He can handle either forward spot and he figures to get plenty of open looks alongside Paul and Victor Wembanyama. Barnes averaged 12.2 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.2 assists last season with .474/.387/.801 shooting stats.
The Spurs will use their cap space to absorb Barnes’ $18MM salary for the upcoming season, Wojnarowski and Tim Bontemps write in a full story on the trade. Barnes will make $19MM in 2025/26 before becoming an unrestricted free agent.
Barnes’s contract includes a $3.7MM trade kicker that Sacramento will be responsible for, Marks adds (Twitter link), broken up into $1.85MM for each of the next two seasons. That number could be negotiated down, but only with Barnes’ consent.
San Antonio will likely need to make one or two minor cost-cutting moves (they have Charles Bassey and Julian Champagnie on non-guaranteed contracts) in order to accommodate both Barnes and Paul.
Spurs have added cp3, castle and barnes. With the young guys they should be much improved. Excited for the season.
CP3 is 40 years old.
His age is well documented. I’m not expecting him to carry the team. Rather than just support the young players and coaching staff. Keep in mind McDermott and cedi osman were the vets last year. Barnes and cp3 are better than those two.
Sheldon, you’re precisely spot on. Barnes, Paul, Castle, & to a lesser degree H.Ingram should all blend extremely well with Vassel, Sochan, Keldon Johnson, Wemby, Osman, Branham, Collins, Jones, and then Cissoko could take a step forward as well in his growth and development.
They’ve significantly extended the length of their rotation and thoroughly upgraded their talent level with these moves.
Barnes and Paul are going to impact the Spurs roster and their players LOONG after they’re both no longer wearing a San Antonio jersey. That’s the type of immediate impact they can have on these yoing guards and wings careers, and they’re both consummate professionals that work extremely hard and both are high IQ basketball players which allows their on the play court to surpass their athletic abilities.
Excellent moves by the Spurs, and I think we should see them show some solid growth this year. I don’t expect them to contend or anything, but I think this year of growth and development can be critical for the Spirs moving forward. They can use this year of development to help them continue to fine tune their roster and it very well could springboard them into contention the following season.
Water is wet
so is LeBron.
Barnes and CP3 are nothing more that $30 million of expiring contracts to free up cap space for 2025. Barnes may stick as a bench player or be moved further – just depends if Spurs want to chase someone now or at the deadline or wait until 2025. None of this about them wanting Barnes as a long term piece.
@Tuck, yeah, I mean sure, but you need to spend money on payroll either way, and spending it on vets like CP3 and Barnes is a win-win in the locker room and having them work with the young guys on a day-to-day basis in practice could be quite significant for their development
Not so sure Spurs don’t win this deal. Barnes perennially underrated.
It’s kind of insane to think Sac can win without Barnes – you always need THAT wing, and Barnes already knows what its like to win a chip….
Barnes was below meh last year. Most kings fans thought resigning him was a bad move. Turning him into a 6 time all star is great. They still have the MLE as well right?
Barnes had several 30 plus outbursts last season,he was underutilized in that regard . His numbers will jump in San Antonio.
Yes, but also had plenty of nights where he was a ghost
It was a good move for Sacramento, but also for the Spurs. The Kings are now hard capped at the 1st Apron. The Kings still have the MLE, but can’t take back more in a trade than they send out. Huerter and Lyles with a 1st(or two) for Cameron Johnson could work. The Kings would then need another backup big.
Barnes is past his prime at this point and overpaid…If they can figure out the spacing, DeRozan is an automatic upgrade. Plus if Fox ever gets hurt, they’ll still be able to pull out some wins.
He’s 32. He’s in his prime.
Barnes disappeared for 80% of the season last year
Barnes was ass milk, his impact on games was not there anymore. He was a vet presence but on the court you would wonder what he is even doing to help.
Barnes is still good. He can play the 3 or the 4 and shoot it. The Spurs got better. The Kings now need to find a team to take Huerter and give them back a good 4. Maybe something with the Nets for Cam Johnson and send back Huerter and 1st round picks?
Just sign Paul Reed
Yeah exactly…I hope Monte hurries up and jumps on that before some other team does!
Barnes is fool’s gold. He is capable of having big games where he looks like an all star on both ends. But he is more likely to look like just a guy and disappear in big moments. It’s been the same with him whether with the Warriors, Mavs, or Kings.
I’m glad DeRoz came home
Home? Compton is in LA???
Psst babe we have Compton at home
Compton at home: Vegas As
Vegas is the Compton of Nevada
Sacramento is not even close to LA
An 8 hour drive is much closer than Toronto
thats not the clapback you think it is
He is back in California is the point.
California is a LARGE state… he is nowhere near home.
All of California is not the same. LA is nothing like Sacramento, they are opposites.
Plus I know DeRozan does not think that Sacramento is LA bc he has been to both.
Cali is still a lot closer than Chi…just a short flight from Sac to La.
Another awful trade by AK. Why does he have a job? He’s an alcoholic
No way they were getting a first for S&T DeMar. Not sure what else you expected them to do.
They did get a first
The Bulls are getting two seconds.
No, San Antonio got a future pick swap. AK is useless. Hopefully he gets a DUI and gets fired
Hopefully you get a DUI and stop commenting
Agreed. Bulls did as much as can be expected.
Chicago getting anything for Derozan was a good move. DeRozan wasn’t going to resign. They got a couple 2nds for some cap space that they weren’t going to use.
The under the carpet part of the deal is the Bulls get 2 2nd round picks AND an almost 18 million dollar trade exception which could be valuable in moving LaVine or Ball. Especially Ball. His salary is only around 20 million this year and the Bulls can deal him without having to take back salary. Remains to be seen if the Bulls would rather:
A) Place Ball on exempt player status-Half his salary
B) Use the 18 million plus the 10 million for a player
C) Trade Duarte plus the 18 million and get a player or picks
I think the Bulls won this deal for those reasons
They still have more to do.
This is a pretty big haul for a sign-and-trade. If you want to say they should have traded him before the deadline or last offseason, sure, but every other S+T including Klay effing Thompson only got one second round pick.
He’s much better than klay at this point
There weren’t many places DeMar could realistically go, though. The Bulls didn’t have much leverage here. If the circumstances were different, maybe they get a bigger return.
I would have preferred Bulls get Huerter but all in all glad they got something rather than just letting DeRozan walk. Reasonable deal given the market and cap limitations
Alcoholic? Wild thing to say
he’s not an rfa so thats better than him leaving for nothin.
DeM DeR in Sacramento …….
is this the best backcourt in basketball. They play both ways ……. unlike those two in Dallas.
PG. — Fox , SG — DeM DeR ……. nice
Not Nicer than
PG — Brunson , SG — Bridges
Kings finally make a bold move. Like this move. well done.
It’s not even a top 5 backcourt. It’s a very nice upgrade but it’s not championship-worthy on its own.
The Kings are simply put not winning a title anytime soon. GSW has better roster as of now.
You’re funny
GS has Steph…idk how they’re better.
Draymond is still a good player but he’s an offensive 0.
Hield is going to have good games but has never been consistent ever.
Kuminga better take a step forward because he basically had 2 good months and then was just kinda there. If you look at his splits on W-L…they’re basically the same.
Then you’re rounding out the roster with Looney, Podziemski, SloMo(who has never been a shooter), Melton and Wiggins who looked cooked last season.
Say what you will but I’d rather run out Fox/DeRozan/Huerter/Murray/Sabonis with Carter/Monk/Ellis/Lyles and Len off the bench. Now they might need to make a move for another forward but at this point, I don’t see how GS has any chance of being the “better roster”.
Kings just smacked GS in the play-in, and then Curry/Green are gonna be a year older
I guess Sabonis & Monk & Murray & so on are just there for decoration.
They all have to figure out how to play together. DeRozan is terrible for spacing. It might take them a full season to figure it out. Won’t know until after next season
“Terrible for spacing” but can create his own shot.
That’s when those terrible for spacing arguments go out the window when the other four guys who are on the court are capable enough outside shooters. He might be the worst of the guys who are on the roster at shooting 3s. Meaning most of the guys he’s passing to can if he’s isn’t just getting past guys to make the bucket himself.
DeRozan doesn’t play defense and has been a negative on/off player on a horrible team for few years, this doesn’t put Kings above 9th place.
You gotta high. They just traded their worst starter, for a 6 time all star. They were a play-in team last year, 3 seed the year before. Keon Ellis changed the makeup of that team the last month of last year
Derozan is a mid range shooter and nothing else. 34 wanting big money.
Yep, and the Kings were 10-12th in league standings for most of the season until Monk/Huerter both went down at the same time and they slid all the way back for those last 2-3 weeks.
It’s not even their backcourt lmao
Fox and Monk are the guards.
Derozan plays SF
DeRozan played SF because their team was that bad and they wanted as much talent on the roster as possible. He also played PF in SATX before Chicago because again, bad team.
Also, Monk comes off the bench. Has never started a game in Sacramento the 2 years and 149 games he’s played there.
Maybe on my own with this take but Fox Monk DeRozan Murray Sabonis, there’s only 1 good shooter in this line up and no stand out defender. The spacing will be terrible and ultimately I think they make the play in and lose. DeRozan is what 35/36 and you’ve got him on a 3 year deal, not smart business on top of the Monk contract, it’s not looking good
Spurs sneakily have had one of the best off seasons. CP3 is a terrific vet for this young team. Perfect guy to develop Stephon Castle and also feed the ball to Vic. Just a true playmaker. Harrison Barnes also just a perfect fit. Combo forward, happy on the ball or off the ball, defends well, experienced, going to be great in Pop’s system.
Chicago, your lucky to be getting anything for him considering we ultimately could’ve left for nothing but it’s still one of those situations where you have to wonder why did you not trade him earlier and actually get a decent return. You’ve got what 7 guards with Coby, Giddey, Ayo, Duarte, Jevon, Lonzo and LaVine. Just directionless and poorly run.
Spurs had a nice offseason with this, but the Warriors have improved their defense much more than anyone, and got Hield to replace Klay so they didnt even lose offense.
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Prove me wrong, delusional one…
Warriors didn’t get better.
Hield replaces Klay on the bench, at best a lateral move.
The tallest guys on the floor are 6’8” 230 in green and 6’9” 245 in Trayce Jackson David
Jokic freaking mvp 6’11” – 7ft 285
Karl Anthony Towns 7 ft 250 and Rudy Gobert 7’1” 260 all defense
Anthony Davis 6’10” 255
Ayton 7 ft 250 plus Clingan 7’2” 280
Jjj 6’10 240 and Zach Edey 7’4” 285
Thunder went and got Hartenstein to sure up their middle
Sabonis 6’10” 250 in SAC
Spurs have Wemby and Collins
The entire west is going to body the warriors front court and abuse them like red headed step children.
How can you say they improved when their biggest move was getting Hield and did nothing to address stopping the centers of the west? And quite a few teams went out and improved their front court situation from last year.
Warriors were the best rebounding team last season and they won 46 games with that roster.
Warriors with the current roster are winning more than that. They got better defensively.
Rebounding team* which includes guards
I’m talking front court PF/C where Green Looney Kuminga and Jackson Daics averaged 23 a game for rebounds
Comparatively speaking, the warriors got bodied last season as well when you compare bigs to bigs.
Wolves averaged 29
Nuggets 30
Spurs averaged 27
Ayton averaged 12 himself, half and got a partner in Clingan
Kings 24 with Sabonis averaging 14 himself
I don’t think Warriors fans really realize how small their front court is and will get absolutely bodied again this year as they did last year.
Warriors got better because they are going with youth this year. The 2 players leaving were old players. Their problem last year was bad defense this year they brought in better defensive players. Been hearing the same thing the last few years about being 2 small but still won a championship. Sabonis will be no factor he is so soft.
2022 warriors averaged 25-26 rebounds a game.
Back during their run Warriors actually had a lot of bigs comparatively speaking about todays make up of the roster, including Durant a 6’11” back then
2017 they carried 9 PF/C mainly C plus KD
2018 they carried 8 PF/C mainly C plus KD
2023 – 5
2024 – 6 but 4 PF two C
2025 – 4 so far
They aren’t done, but monk isn’t a starter. Huerter and Murray both shoot the three very well. DD is a good defender, and keegan is bordering in very good.
Yeah, Kings have the full MLE still, I believe, and the Bi-Annual Exception. Starting lineup will likely be Fox, Ellis/Huerter, Derozan, Murray, Sabonis…as of now.
Ellis is a damn good defender, same with Keegan. Rookie Carter should be really good too, and Fox improved last season. They ended the season ranked 14th in defensive rating.
Monk isn’t a starter but will more than likely close games. Hueter wasn’t even in the rotation to end the season. DeRozan is an okay defender but wouldn’t say good, and Keegan is alright but in saying that Keegan always had Barnes beside him taking the harder match ups.
Ellis I like but this and Carter eat into his game time. Carter I also like but not a great fit with Fox the long term starter ahead of him and Monk taking up the 6th man role.
Huerter got hurt in early April, so he could be in the rotation at the end of the season.
Yeah, huerter Def should have stayed in the rotation after having surgery lmao
“We.” Grow up
Yeah but Monk is streaky and can shoot the lights out when he’s on. Fox shoot it well the 1st half of season, just has to be consistent for most of it in 24-25. Murray & Fox now too are pretty solid defensively, Fox just got finished leading the league in steals.
Demar I say it deless I like it
Im guessing Duarte gets waived, hopefully now AK can focus on trading Vucevic and Lavine
Why would they waive Duarte? Unless he looks terrible in training camp, there is no reason to.
Kings sent cash to the Bulls in the deal which probably the amount needed to waive him. He isn’t good.
He’d need to be replaced. Only way he leaves is a trade
Dominicana national team leader, leading scorer throughout the Olympic Qualifying Tournament, including 24 points against Croatia in an extremely decent Tournament for Rep. Dominicana (without star players Horford and Towns).
I get ir doesn’t Equal to getting into an NBA rotation. But he got my respect, putting the face for his national team (I wasn’t actually a fan of his).
He had good stretches in Indiana, before the emergence of Ben Mathurin
didn’t play the greatest for the Kings, but maybe he’ll get one last shot in Chi. Just needs a more consistent role & minutes, that could help him a lot!
Agreed. No need to waive Duarte. As it stands, the Bulls have a logjam at guard LaVine, White, Dosunmu, Giddey, Jevon Carter and now Duarte. Obviously the Bulls need front court players not guards.
Giddey is 6’8. He’s going to shift to SF while LaVine is on the roster.
Starting lineup is: Coby, LaVine, Giddey, PW, and Vuc.
Ayo is the backup 2. Duarte is probably going to get some minutes at the backup 3 just due to the lack of size on the bench but otherwise play the 2.
Carter and Lonzo are going to fight for 3rd string minutes to start the season.
Bulls have other players who can get minutes coming off the bench Jalen Smith, Dalen Terry, Julian Phillips and Torrey Craig.
This is a really big deal… more to come.
Not A minor one indeed.
Possible Starting Line Up for the Kings :
————————————————-
6-8 PF Murray
6-7 SF Huerter
6-11 C Sabonis
6-6 SG DeRozen
6-3 PG Fox
————————————————
2nd Unit :
————-
6-9 PF Lyles
6-9 SF McDaniels
7-0 C Len
6-5 SG Monk
6-3 PG Carter
————————————————
6-3 SG Ellis
6-6 SG C. Jones
Thanks
Defense played: 0
I don’t think Huerter starts. Ellis came in the last month or so of the season and completely changed the defense, and shot around 40% from 3. Huerter off the bench should be a thing.
Ellis will probably start for defense mainly, and Huerter can be the bench SF with JMcD backing him up.
The kings still don’t have a 5 who can defend . Sabonis is to small
Kings need to go after Precious or BBall Paul, and then the roster will be in really good shape.
Demar going KINGS, just made the LAKERS and WARRIORS fight for a play-in spot, that much harder.
DeRozan is no better than Barnes who they gave up. Warriors have defense now unlike last year.
Funny. Derozan is a 6 time all star. Harrison was loved in sac, but he was a ghost most games. Warriors added hield, who is literally a matador on defense lol
The Kings already have a younger DDR in Fox. Why do they need another slashing ball handler who struggles with the 3?
Lat season Fox shot .369 from deep on 7.8 APG, by no means is that you elite but he certainly didn’t struggle.
Because it is nice to have 2 top clutch scorers in the 4th. When Monk got hurt the team had no one else to really depend on for buckets.
Typical Bulls Trade, they trade the best player and they accept the worst player/pick in return from the trade. I don’t know why they didn’t want the pick swap years from now. Nor did they try to get back next year’s pick they sent years ago to the Spurs for DeRozan. Just Dumbfounded by how poorly the Bulls trade with other teams.
This is a terrible fit for Sacramento. Not sure why they want a ball stopper who is afraid of his own shadow – if he spots it outside the 3-point line. Like some neurotic version of Punxsutawney Phil.
Spurs just couldn’t resist getting more assets from a Derozan sign and trade lol
Incredible
Cool
If i am sacremento or bulls i am looking very hard at paul reed not tall but one tough powerforward who can play some center and gives either one something they sorely need inexpensive depth up front
Yessir!
I don’t understand this for Sacramento , at all, whatsoever…maybe they intend on using some of their young guards, and playing more multi guard lineups? I really wanted to see what they could have done, had they been healthy in the playoffs. I thought they had good matchups vs certain teams
I guess I forgot they traded for Jalen McDaniels, but he is more of a 4/3, and inconsistent defensively, and with his shot; I don’t see him replacing what they lost from Barnes defensively on the wing
Spurs now have a super versatile roster, and dint have to do much to get super valuable free pieces
Hurts their defense & rebounding a tad, but big boosts in on ball/shot creation, mid range attack, clutch scoring and playmaking.
I don’t really get how he fits with fox and Sabonis…
I really liked Sacramento last year, though I don’t think we ever really got to see the rotation I thought they would…I think they need to do something with a wing piece for me to think anything of their outlook, after other teams improved. This feels like something that works better if someone is injured
Sac is gonna miss Barnes.
Trade Lyles with something (draft rights) Cash, along with draft compensation for a veteran to start in his 30s to be a defense shot blocking PF to be another veteran with DeRozan.
Murray (SF/PF) as sixth man of the year award candidate