Domantas Sabonis Celebrates DeMar DeRozan: Kings ‘Can Get a Bucket at Any Time’

Joseph Zucker@@JosephZuckerFeatured Columnist IVJuly 14, 2024

Jeff Haynes/NBAE via Getty Images

Sacramento Kings star Domantas Sabonis is thrilled with the team’s marquee addition this offseason and believes DeMar DeRozan will make a meaningful impact.

“I’m excited, he’s going to be a big piece,” Sabonis told TMZ Sports. “He’s huge, he’s gonna elevate us. So, can’t wait. … We already got [De’Aaron] Fox, we got Malik [Monk], and now we got DeRozan. We can get a bucket at any time. It makes life a lot easier on the court.”

In three years with the Chicago Bulls, DeRozan averaged 25.5 points on 49.6 percent shooting. His performance remained a constant for an organization that was otherwise steadily declining.

Acquiring the 34-year-old isn’t the move that puts the Kings over the top. Even in his prime, he simply wasn’t that kind of cornerstone talent, and his inability to space the floor has long been a larger issue in the playoffs compared to the regular season.

Still, there’s no question the Kings should be better now that they have DeRozan to play off Fox and Sabonis. His fit into Sacramento’s offensive scheme should be seamless.

“Over the past six seasons, DeRozan has turned himself into the kind of player who could thrive in a kinetic offense like the one Mike Brown runs in Sacramento,” The Ringer’s Rob Mahoney wrote. “He’s a better passer now, not just in orchestrating plays but in facilitating them. He cuts well off the main action, which will allow him to play alongside De’Aaron Fox, another star creator on the perimeter.”

So much discourse around the NBA has become a binary question over whether a team can win a title or at least has a path to one with the right transaction. There is no longer any valor in assembling a roster that has a ceiling of being a top-six contender.

That’s why the DeRozan sign-and-trade was so refreshing. The Kings are seemingly content with sitting in that middle ground, and they recognized that consistently making the postseason on its own is a significant improvement over more than a decade of futility.