DeMar DeRozan, who’s heading into his second season with the Sacramento Kings, will be hoping for better fortunes this time around. His debut season in California was marred by the firing of head coach Mike Brown in the middle of the year and De’Aaron Fox being traded at the deadline. Now, the team is attempting to fill the void left by Fox with Dennis Schroder, and DeRozan believes he brings a lot to the squad.
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The Kings managed to drag themselves to the play-in in 2025 with home court advantage, but still lost to the Dallas Mavericks, which marked a frustrating end to a frustrating season. One of the biggest issues down the stretch for the Kings was that they were weak at point guard.
They had guys like Keon Ellis and Devin Carter splitting duties at the position. That’s why they decided to go and sign Schroder, who just won the EuroBasket MVP while playing for Germany. When DeRozan was asked about the NBA veteran, he praised him for being a competitor and a winner.
“Fierce competitor, man. Every time I competed against Dennis, he was one of those ones that’s a dog,” DeRozan told NBC Sports. “He’s going to talk crap to you, he’s going to push you. He’s a big-time gamer; he’s played with some of the greatest players in this league, back when he was in Atlanta, to now. Everywhere he went, he played an impact on winning with those teams.”
Schroder has made a name for himself as one of the NBA’s modern-day journeymen. In his 12-year career, he’s played for nine different teams, with the Kings now being his tenth. His best season came in 2019–20 with the Oklahoma City Thunder, when he finished second in Sixth Man of the Year voting. He’s a capable scorer off the bench who can shoot and effectively run an offense.
Later, DeRozan spoke further about what Schroder will bring to the Kings.
“It makes it easier when you play with guys like that. It makes the next person down the line, that’s a competitor’s job, that much easier. So, being able to get him at a position that we kind of struggled with last year after the trade, hopefully it’ll go a long way for us,” DeRozan said.
Not only will Schroder be joining the Kings, but they’ll also be getting back Malik Monk. The two-way guard missed the team’s final 9 regular-season games and play-in game with an MCL sprain. With him and Schroder alongside each other, they could form a pretty interesting duo.
DeRozan and the Kings may not be title-favorites. But they should be a respectable side to start the season. The question will be, what happens when someone inevitably gets injured? Does Sacramento have the depth to navigate through tough times? It’ll be interesting to watch. But for now, a starting lineup of Schroder, Monk, DeRozan, Zach LaVine, and Domantas Sabonis sounds solid.
