DeRozan's Future Held Up By 4 Teams & 2 Huge NBA Decisions
While change in the NBA is always upon us, there are some things that just never change. LeBron James and Kawhi Leonard have been a thorn in DeMar DeRozan's side, for different reasons throughout his career.
From 2016 through 2018, James's Cleveland Cavaliers repeatedly eliminated DeMar's Toronto Raptors in the Eastern Conference playoffs. LeBron was the one stumbling block to DeRozan to make it to the NBA Finals.
Then there's Kawhi Leonard. He was the man that the Raptors traded DeRozan away to acquire in 2018, leading Toronto to their first NBA title in 2019.
Now, DeRozan is second-fiddle to both James and Kawhi once again. It seems that of the four teams that have the most mutual interest with DD, all of them are somehow tied in to waiting on either LeBron or Kawhi.
Heat & Cavaliers wait on LeBron decision before deciding on DeRozan
As for LeBron, his delay in making a decision on his next destination is holding up DeRozan's free agency. Two of the teams on DeMar's list, the Miami Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers, are in a holding pattern waiting on LeBron.
Miami has James as their No. 1 target. But Fred Katz of The Athletic says that DD could be a fallback option for Pat Riley & Co.:
"The Heat have tossed around the idea of DeRozan for years, league sources said, but they are in on James. If they don’t acquire one wing scorer, then maybe they turn to another."
Kawhi investigation holds up Clippers & Raptors from deciding on DeRozan
As for the Raptors, their offseason is kind of frozen until the pending Kawhi Leonard trade with the Clippers comes to a conclusion. The two sides are waiting on the league's third-party investigation to be completed first.
The Clippers are another of DeRozan's potential destinations, his hometown. But they're in the same situation as the Raptors because of the Kawhi holdup.
The most intriguing way for all this to play out would be DeRozan eventually going back to the Raptors along with Leonard. Worlds would collide as two former eras of Toronto basketball would come together for the present.