DeMar DeRozan Expected To Join Lakers Before Bulls

DeMar DeRozan, Los Angeles Lakers, Chicago Bulls, NBA
NBA Analysis Network

The Los Angeles Lakers have been stumbling through the early part of the 2021-22 NBA season. Injuries have played a major part in their up and downplay, as they have had rotation players sidelined throughout the start of the season.

They are still playing without LeBron James, who has appeared in only six out of the team’s 13 games thus far this season. In the last game that he missed, against the Chicago Bulls, the team lost 121-103.

That game featured some familiar faces, as Alex Caruso and Lonzo Ball were integral parts in the Chicago Bulls picking up a victory.

The Lakers also got to see up close and personal what could have been with DeMar DeRozan, who had an excellent game at Staples Center.

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DeRozan poured in a season-high 38 points as the Lakers had no answers to slow him down. Watching him perform at that level certainly leaves a lot of people asking what if, as DeRozan was very close to donning the purple and gold.

“I felt like going to the Lakers was a done deal and that we were going to figure it out. I was going to come home,” DeRozan told Yahoo Sports. “The business side of things just didn’t work out. A couple of things didn’t align. It didn’t work out. It’s just part of the business, part of the game. My next option was definitely Chicago. So, looking back at it, it worked out well.”

DeRozan had plenty of discussions with James in the offseason and thought that he would land with the Lakers in free agency. His agent, Aaron Goodwin, was putting a lot of effort in hammering out details that would land his client back with his hometown Lakers.

The Compton native was under the impression that everyone was on the same page and things would eventually be worked out. Talks between the Lakers and San Antonio Spurs eventually fizzled out as Los Angeles worked behind the scenes to land Russell Westbrook.

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Key figures did not back acquiring DeRozan as much as they did Russell Westbrook, so on the night of the 2021 NBA Draft, a deal was completed with the Washington Wizards. That certainly played a part in motivating DeRozan to have his biggest scoring night of the season.

“But there’s always motivation. It may be just to come home and play in front of friends and family, competing against teams you grew up watching. There are all sorts of motivations that you carry and you try to channel that energy into the game. I find that in every game, but definitely coming back to your hometown, you want to play well and you have that motivation to put on a great show.”

DeMar DeRozan certainly put on a great show against the Los Angeles Lakers. He is an integral part of the Bulls’ success in the early going and has proven all his naysayers wrong that said he wouldn’t fit in Chicago.

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