Not only did DeRozan commit to the team, he signed below the max to do so. We’ll never know if he’d have had maximum offers elsewhere, but considering what the Lakers gave Timofey Mozgov, that the Lakers and Sixers were suitors and may struggle to get to the salary floor, and that other teams were said to be at the ready if negotiations with Toronto stalled (Miami, the Clippers, even the Warriors), it seems safe to say he had options. The specifics won’t come out because it doesn’t behoove anyone to release that information now, but it’s at least fair to say DeRozan is signing for less than he could have demanded, for what that’s worth.
A deal of $139 million could see DeRozan earn $25.2 million in Year One with an annual raise of 7.5 percent of that amount, but other structures are possible (including a slightly front-loaded deal). The reported total is just 91 percent of his possible max, meaning DeRozan left significant cash on the table as a sort of home-town discount. Sure, it’s more than he could have gotten elsewhere on this deal, but he also helps the team maintain an additional shred of flexibility moving forward, including in a pivotal 2017 offseason where tag-team partner Kyle Lowry becomes a free agent
Look, this is almost certainly nothing. The Raptors’ brass was in L.A. to get the DeMar DeRozan deal done, and a great deal of players base their offseason out of that area. Basketball people know each other, and if they cross paths, they’ll talk to each other.
But because it’s July 1 and no rumor seems too random for people to discuss, here’s this: TMZ spotted Dwane Casey hanging with Meyers Leonard (at least, it kind of looks like Meyers Leonard?).
DeMar DeRozan agrees to re-sign with the Raptors… https://t.co/yb5RZAfHVp
— NBA TV (@NBATV) July 1, 2016
Report: Raptors met with Ryan Anderson on Friday – Raptors Republic: ESPN TrueHoop Network Blog
As literal billions of dollars fly around on the opening day of free agency, the Toronto Raptors, who opened things off with a near-max deal for DeMar DeRozan, have been mostly quiet.
That’s not due to inaction, apparently, but rather some stealthy or off-radar meetings. With most of the league focused on Mike Conley, Dwight Howard, Al Horford, and Kevin Durant, among others, the Raptors quietly met with veteran power forward Ryan Anderson.
According to Mark Medina of Los Angeles Daily News, that meeting took place at the Beverly Wilshire (likely where Dwane Casey was spotted chatting with Meyers Leonard). Medina likely has the inside scoop here because the Los Angeles Lakers are also believed to be interested in Anderson, as are the Houston Rockets, Sacramento Kings, Washington Wizards, and surely more. That list of suitors likely means Anderson’s asking price will be substantial, and rumors during the season had his annual salary pushing above $15 million and maybe into the $18-million range.
That would make him a tough fit for the Raptors, who only have about $5.3 million in cap space if they renounce all of their non-DeRozan free agents and delay the signing of DeRozan. That means they would need to somehow unload salary – likely Terrence Ross – either to create the requisite space to sign Anderson or to create a sign-and-trade scenario. (Sign-and-trades have little value to players in the current collective bargaining agreement, but there are occasional scenarios in which they can help a team recoup assets for an outgoing free agent while also allowing a player to better pick his destination). And even unloading Ross may not get them quite enough space, depending on exactly where Anderson’s demands are.
EXCLUSIVE: We've obtained footage of DeMar DeRozan's contract negotiations with the #Raptors. pic.twitter.com/DZ4jlyUdWz
— Tim and Sid (@timandsid) July 2, 2016
3 Striking Things About DeMar DeRozan’s Big Payday
DeMar DeRozan, as expected, has agreed to terms on a new deal with the Toronto Raptors. According to the latest reports, he’ll get around $145 million over the next five years.
Let me spell that out for you because it’s a lot of money. One-hundred-forty-five-million dollars. It is the second-largest contract in NBA history, surpassed only by Damian Lillard’s $150 million extension he signed last summer and kicks in next season.
DeRozan will make about $29 million per season. Assuming around 80 games a year, he’ll haul in about $362,500 per game. If he maintains his career average of 34 minutes per game, he’ll make about $10,661.76 every minute he’s on the court, or $177.60 per second. He’ll make about $4,264.71 every 24-second shot clock.
In short: Derozan. Is. Getting. Paid.
That is a striking amount of money. Consider that Michael Jordan made $90 million in his career — a big indication of how much times have changed.
Or if that seems too long ago, how about the fact that Dwyane Wade has made $156 million in his career. DeRozan’s deal puts him at $181 million.
We can talk about TV deals and what not, but that’s an eye-popping amount of money.
This is striking, not just because of the amount of money, though, but also because of DeRozan’s status on his team and in the league. He is, at best, the second-best player on the team. Kyle Lowry is clearly their best player and the most important one. But calling DeRozan the second-best player on his team might overstate his contribution.
His game is predicated on a more mid-2000s brand of basketball. He’s great at getting to the rim and spotting up for that mid-range jumper. Last season, he attempted 860 shots from between the semicircles, 101 more than anyone in the NBA. And according to Basketball-Refernece.com, he was 39th of the 53 players who did so.
The advanced stats don’t help his case much. DeRozan finished 21st in Player Efficiency Rating and was 26th in win shares per 48 minutes.
He played woeful defense, posting a -2.47 Defensive Real Plus-Minus, 82nd out of 97 shooting guards ranked by ESPN. In fact, according to NBA.com, the Raptors’ net rating was +3.0 with him on the court and +7.6 when he wasn’t.
So according to these reports, DeMar DeRozan will average $27+ million a year, right? Kyle Lowry making $12 million next year.
— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) July 1, 2016
DeMar DeRozan Gets NBA’s Second Biggest Deal All-Time At $139 Million. Huh? – Forbes
DeRozan is a decent player who averaged 23.5 points per game last year for the Raptors and made his second All-Star team. His player efficiency rating ranked 24th among NBA players last season during his breakout campaign. But the guard is a volume shooter with a shooting percentage that has often hovered in the low 40s. His defense is also suspect. Yet, the reality is the Raptors are likely pleased they could bring back DeRozan at a rate below $30 million per year despite his flaws. Such is life in today’s NBA.
Should Toronto Raptors Be Happy with Status Quo After Re-Signing DeMar DeRozan? | Bleacher Report
Subtraction becomes the enemy in this situation. DeRozan has still yet to shoot 34 percent from three for an entire season, and his sub-40 percent clip from the floor during postseason play is alarming. But he cleared 23 points per game, recorded an assist rate better than 20 and posted a true shooting percentage of 55 this season—a feat only matched by Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Paul George, James Harden, LeBron James, Damian Lillard and Russell Westbrook. You keep him, at any cost, then figure out the rest later.
The rest is just difficult.
“He’s made it very, very clear that he wants to be in L.A.. He has family out there. He’s from out there. He wants to be in L.A. He wants to wear the purple and gold, and if there’s a way for it to happen, again he’s restricted, if there’s a way for it to happen, DeMar DeRozan will be in a Los Angeles Lakers uniform next season.”
How Raptors can keep Biyombo by sacrificing Ross
The RealGM checker says the deal is valid. With this trade, Masai Ujiri would clear about $7 million of salary cap space [Ross is owed about $10M this season, and Stauskas almost $3M.]
The teams would be swapping disappointing players, with Ross reuniting with the General Manager who drafted him, Bryan Colangelo. Staukas would be coming home, perhaps to re-discover his missing shooting stroke.
Depending on how badly Masai wanted Biyombo back, we could dump Ross for just the draft pick. Philadelphia is under the cap, and so can absorb salary without sending any the other way.
I wouldn’t do either of these deals, and not only because I’m one of the shrinking number of Raptors fans who believes Terrence will find himself next season. I can’t see a scenario in which Bismack returns to Toronto because doing sense makes no sense for him. He’s demonstrated he’s capable of a starting job, particularly with a team that doesn’t need its centre to score. Why would he rejoin the Raptors, where he’s blocked by Jonas Valanciunas?
ESPN’s NBA panel discusses DeMar DeRozan resigning in Toronto, and comment on how important it was for him to stay in Toronto. Former Raptor Antonio Davis discusses why he wanted out of the city, and explains how things have changed.
Decisive Ujiri wastes little time as free agency opens | Toronto Star
The DeRozan deal was just one of a flurry of big-money transactions in the first hours of free agency as teams deal with an outlier of a salary cap year that will see it grow to about $94 million from $70 million thanks to a glut of new television money in the pool.
One name that did not surface in the many reports from many outlets was Bismack Biyombo, the former Raptors backup centre who is an unrestricted free agent.
But Biyombo and his representatives are undoubtedly thrilled to see the value of contracts being thrown at big men on the first day of spending.
Dwight Howard reportedly got three years and $70.5 million from the Atlanta Hawks; Timofey Mozgov, who was buried on the bench in Cleveland, is reportedly getting a four-year, $64 million deal from the Los Angeles Lakers; Joakim Noah, who has been injured for most of the last two seasons, is in line for a four-year, $72 million deal from the New York Knicks, and 31-year-old Al Jefferson has a three-year, $30 million agreement with the Indiana Pacers, according to various reports.
And with Atlanta’s Al Horford also in line for maximum value deal, Biyombo is unquestionably going to hit the financial motherlode if he wants.
https://twitter.com/LavishItems/status/749138625376428032
DeMar DeRozan defines what it means to be a Toronto Raptor – Sportsnet.ca
He’s not James or Curry or Kevin Durant or even Kawhi Leonard. He might not even be the Raptors’ MVP, given the all-around work Kyle Lowry puts in most nights, but he’s an elite scorer who is absolutely not scared of the moment.
In my book the most impressive thing DeRozan accomplished this past season wasn’t fighting through his post-season struggles to average 32, four and four in the Raptors’ two home wins over the NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals, but that in Game 7 against the Indiana Pacers – a game the Raptors absolutely had to win to advance past the first round for the first time in 15 years – DeRozan took 32 shots, making only 10.
Not pretty and the Raptors’ next stage as a team will be having other players feel comfortable taking on that responsibility and DeRozan sharing it, but that he was willing to shoulder that load at that moment spoke volumes about his willingness to risk failure in order to succeed. His 13-point burst in three minutes of the third quarter was the defining moment of the game and allowed the Raptors’ best-ever season to keep going.
Source: DeMar DeRozan staying with Raptors | Raptors | Sports | Toronto Sun
“It’s an honour. I’m a loyal dude. I stick to what I start with,” DeRozan said four years ago when he first signed an extension.
Nothing had changed when the best season in Raptors history ended in May.
“I always preached it. I was passionate about it when we were losing. When we were terrible, I said I’m going to stick through this whole thing and I want to be that guy who brings this organization to where it is now. I definitely don’t want to switch up after we win,” he had said.
“I’m a loyal person,” DeRozan repeated four years later.
“That’s just how I live my whole life. Period. And at this point in my career, it’s all about winning. That’s the only thing that matters.”
Well, the Raptors won 56 games and took two against the eventual champions in the Eastern Conference final. DeRozan averaged career highs in points, assists, free throw and three-point percentage, player efficiency rating, win shares and value over replacement player, among others.
