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Best landing spot: San Antonio Spurs
First of all, everyone loves meetings. Secondly, and more importantly, there are actually good reasons for DeMar DeRozan to make a positive difference for the Spurs.
We should introduce the caveat that San Antonio should first look for a traditional point guard with its cap space and trade assets. Victor Wembanyama will be a superstar regardless, but the Spurs can’t go another season where Tre Jones, who is likely a third-string player on a good team, spends most of his time running the first-unit offense.
However, the market isn’t exactly flush with floor generals, so perhaps the Spurs could think outside the box.
DeRozan has averaged over 5.0 assists in six of his last seven seasons, and even recorded a career-high 6.9 assists per game in 2020-21, the last of his three years with the Spurs.
Although his facilitation wouldn’t come as a high-volume pick-and-roll orchestrator, DeRozan has shown the ability to distribute from the elbows and out of isolated sets when drawing a second defender. A little individual shot creation wouldn’t hurt either, considering San Antonio is ranked 26th in offensive efficiency last season.
Worst landing spot: charlotte hornets
The cocky answer would be the Chicago Bulls, as DeRozan’s return for a fourth season would signal the team’s intention to maintain its low-ceiling status quo. In reality, that seems to be the most likely outcome, considering how few teams are prepared to overcome what kc johnson of NBC Sports Chicago reported that there could be a two-year deal with the Bulls worth up to $80 million.
At least that somewhat disappointing reunion would be better than DeRozan heading to Charlotte, a team with substantial cap space, where his individual shot creation wouldn’t add the value he could elsewhere.
The Hornets plan to put the stone in the hands of a healthy LaMelo Ball this season as they try to probe the connection between him and last year’s No. 2 overall pick, Brandon Miller. DeRozan is excellent at what he does, but his isolation game tends to make him a focal point, in part because his reluctance to space the floor and shoot 3-pointers means he doesn’t have much value off the ball.
Charlotte needs its young players to maximize their touches this season, and while DeRozan could offer useful veteran leadership to a young team that could use some, this just doesn’t fit. Neither he nor the Hornets would be set up for success.