DeMar DeRozan didn’t land in Denver by accident. Before the veteran forward committed to the Nuggets on a one-year, minimum-salary deal, he drew real interest from several teams and worked through a free-agency process that had plenty of moving parts.
ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that DeRozan spoke with the Heat, Wizards and Pelicans before settling on the Nuggets. Miami had “mutual interest,” according to Charania, and Bam Adebayo spent several weeks recruiting the six-time All-Star. Even so, the Heat were pushing all summer to add Klay Thompson and are expected to sign the veteran sharpshooter after he agreed to a buyout with Dallas.
Denver, though, had been in the mix for a while. Charania wrote that DeRozan is expected to have a “significant role” with the Nuggets and chose the team because he wanted to join a perennial playoff contender after a sustained push from the front office and coaching staff.
The interest from the Nuggets goes back months. Sources told Bennett Durando of The Denver Post that Denver would have wanted DeRozan even if Sacramento had bought him out in February. Instead, he reached the open market in July, when the Kings waived his partially guaranteed contract.
Chris Haynes, who first reported the news, said Nikola Jokic, Aaron Gordon and Jamal Murray all helped in the recruiting effort. A source close to DeRozan told Durando that Gordon and assistant coach Jared Dudley were especially important in the process.
That same source said DeRozan had been weighing Denver, Miami, Detroit and Cleveland in free agency, and that he ultimately chose the Nuggets because he liked the team’s pitch and saw a strong fit on a club that won its first championship three years ago.
Denver’s need was clear. As Durando wrote, the Nuggets had been looking for more “ball-handling and shot creation” this summer to pair with Jokic and Murray. That search became even more pressing when the team decided not to keep restricted free agent Peyton Watson, who landed a four-year, $88MM deal from Cleveland on Thursday in a sign-and-trade.
Durando also suggested DeRozan may have had better financial offers than the $3.88MM he took from Denver, which will carry a $2.45MM cap hit.
In Other News...
Heat Title Hype Now Hinges On One Big Roster Question
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Klay Thompson now sits at the center of the next move, with reports suggesting he is working through a buyout with the Dallas Mavericks and is expected to land in Miami. His arrival would further deepen a group that already looks far more decorated than it did a few months ago, but it also keeps the focus on how all these pieces fit together once the games matter. The Heat have made the splashy additions. The remaining question is how complete this roster really becomes once Thompsons situation is finalized. [Read more 🡒]
Heat Still Have One Important Roster Move Left
The Heat have already made the kind of headline-grabbing additions that change the conversation around a season, landing Giannis Antetokounmpo and Klay Thompson while reshaping the look of the roster in a major way. But for all the star power, Miamis depth still feels thin after several departures, and that has left the front office with two open roster spots and a clear chance to keep tinkering before opening night.
One more move could matter as much for balance as for buzz, especially with the bench needing more reliable help across different areas of the rotation. Nick Richards, Bruce Brown Jr. and Ochai Agbaji have all surfaced as possible options, and each would give the Heat a different kind of support as they try to fill out a roster that looks dangerous at the top but still needs a little more stability underneath it. [Read more 🡒]
Klay Thompsons Next Role Just Reshaped Miamis Free Agency Plans
Klay Thompsons anticipated arrival has already started to ripple through Miamis offseason, even before the deal is fully on the books. After his buyout with Dallas, Thompson is expected to land on a two-year contract with the Heat, giving the club the kind of shooting and floor spacing it has been targeting as it shapes the rest of the roster around him.
That fit is also part of why DeMar DeRozan reportedly went elsewhere. Miamis expectation that Thompson will start at shooting guard made it harder to carve out a clean role for DeRozan, and he ultimately chose Denver over the Heat. For Miami, the decision points to a free agency plan built less around chasing another high-usage scorer and more around leaning into Thompsons specific skill set, even if that leaves a few questions about how the rest of the rotation comes together. [Read more 🡒]