DeMar DeRozan and the Chicago Bulls are not close to agreeing to a contract extension, according to NBA insider Shams Charania.
DeRozan, 34, is in the final year of his contract with the Bulls, who lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder on opening night and had a players-only meeting in the postgame locker room.
DeRozan will make $28.6 million this season. He would become an unrestricted free agent next offseason if an extension isn’t reached. The Bulls want to keep DeRozan, but it sounds like the two sides aren’t seeing eye-to-eye on money and years at the moment.
NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: DeMar DeRozan, Chicago Bulls Updates
DeRozan scored 20 points versus the Thunder while shooting 9-of-20 from the field. The Bulls lost by 20 at home and players had heated conversations with one another in the postgame locker room.
“I’m not going to sit there and say that it was bad, like people were tearing up the locker room,” Bulls head coach Billy Donovan said. “It was nothing like that. They were in there talking. I walked in and they said, ‘Hey, Coach, can we talk?’ I said sure and I left.’
“There’s nothing personal about any of this stuff. These guys do care, and they want to be better, but they know there’s habits they’ve got to change, and they’ve got to break. And they’re talking about trying to do that collective as a group.”
NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: DeMar DeRozan, Chicago Bulls Updates
The Bulls are 80-71 with DeRozan in the lineup. They acquired the USC product in the summer of 2021 in a sign-and-trade deal with the San Antonio Spurs.
DeRozan, who has been linked to the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers and Miami Heat in trade rumors, has career averages of 21.0 points, 4.4 rebounds and 4.0 assists with the Toronto Raptors, Spurs and Bulls.
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