DeMar DeRozan is back on the open market, and the list of possible next stops is already taking shape.
The Sacramento Kings waived the six-time All-Star on Monday after weeks of trade speculation, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania. As Charania put it, "Just in: The Sacramento Kings are waiving DeMar DeRozan, making the six-time All-Star one of the top free agents, sources tell ESPN. The sides worked collaboratively on this resolution after exploring trade routes," Charania reported.
Even at 36, DeRozan still brings real value. He may be beyond his peak, but he remains the kind of scorer contenders can plug in and trust, especially in a role where he isn’t asked to carry the whole offense.
Big Lead’s Preston Palm pointed to three teams as potential landing spots: the Los Angeles Lakers, Toronto Raptors, and Detroit Pistons. Palm wrote, "DeRozan can pick wherever he wants to go, and ideally for him, join a contender and help them as a third option," Palm wrote.
The numbers from his Sacramento stint back that up. In two seasons with the Kings, DeRozan averaged 20.3 points per game across 154 games, and he bumped that up to 22 points per game in 2024. He has also played more than 70 games in each of the last five seasons, a sign that his production has come with dependable availability.
DeRozan’s scoring package is still alive and well. The USC product continues to average more than 20 points per game, and he has added a workable three-point shot to his game.
For the Lakers, the appeal is obvious: they need another steady offensive option to go with Austin Reaves and Luka Doncic, and DeRozan’s veteran touch would fit alongside two explosive backcourt scorers.
Toronto brings a different kind of conversation. A reunion would be a fun storyline, but the fit with Kawhi Leonard and Scottie Barnes only makes sense if DeRozan is willing to come off the bench or shift back to shooting guard, a spot he hasn’t played in nearly 10 years.
Detroit is the cleanest basketball argument of the three. The Pistons need more scoring, and DeRozan would give them that immediately. He wouldn’t solve their spacing issues, but he would ease the load on Cade Cunningham and give Detroit the No. 2 scorer it badly needs.
DeRozan remains capable of starting and giving a team 20 points a night, which is why the Lakers, Raptors, and Pistons all make sense as possible destinations as he heads toward the 2026 season.
In Other News...
Raptors Reunion With DeMar May Have Been Doomed All Along
The Raptors long-ago pivot to Kawhi Leonard still hangs over any conversation about a DeMar DeRozan reunion, because the idea has always been about more than nostalgia. Toronto has spent years trying to balance star power, lineup fit and the cultural pull that comes with being the citys team, and DeRozans name keeps surfacing whenever the roster looks like it could use another proven scorer. Even the outside chatter has reflected that tension, with some around the league wondering whether the franchises identity, not just its basketball fit, would make a return feel complicated.
Sam Quinn of CBS has argued DeRozan is not the cleanest fit for what Toronto would need now, suggesting the Raptors could instead lean on staggered usage with Scottie Barnes and Leonard to create offense. Drakes presence in the Toronto conversation only adds another layer, since his influence around the team has often been part of the backdrop whenever old Raptors ties come up. For now, the reunion remains more of a debate than a transaction, and the real question is whether the organization ever decides the basketball case is strong enough to override everything else. [Read more 🡒]
Raptors Urged To Reunite Kawhi With A Familiar Franchise Star
The Raptors offseason has already taken a dramatic turn with the move that brought Kawhi Leonard back to Toronto, and the front office now faces the harder part of building a roster around him. One name that has surfaced in that conversation is DeMar DeRozan, whose release by Sacramento has reopened the door to a possible reunion with the franchise that helped define his prime years.
There is appeal in the idea of adding a veteran scorer who could steady second units and take some pressure off the stars, but the fit is not especially clean. Toronto would have to weigh shooting concerns and the overlap between DeRozans game, Leonards usage and Scottie Barnes role as an offense driver when Leonard sits, which makes this a more complicated basketball question than a nostalgic one. [Read more 🡒]
Kyle Lowry Day Just Turned Kawhi Leonard's Return Into Pressure
Kyle Lowrys day in Toronto was supposed to be about celebration, and in a lot of ways it was. The franchise retired No. 7 in his honor, giving the longest-tenured face of the Raptors era a proper hometown salute, and Lowry used the moment to look back on the years that made him a fixture in team history. It was the kind of ceremony that reminded everyone how much of the modern Raptors identity was built around his edge, his leadership and the title chase that changed the organization forever.
But the return of Kawhi Leonard has shifted the conversation from memory to expectation. Lowry made it clear the bar is no longer nostalgia, and the front office has been just as direct about the goal now that Leonard is back in the fold. With the 2026-27 season in view, the message around the team is unmistakable: this is about winning another championship, and anything less would feel like a missed opportunity. [Read more 🡒]