“DeMar DeRozan is a leading candidate for league MVP”: Stephen A. Smith places Bulls guard up with Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid in race for league’s best player

DeMar DeRozan

DeMar DeRozan has been the catalyst for the Bulls’ resurgence this year, and Stephen A. Smith believes he should be up there with the Jokic’s and Embiid’s of the league.

The Chicago Bulls have had an incredible rise to relevance this year, currently tied with Miami for the Eastern Conference lead, a season after missing the playoffs entirely (including the play-in tournament).

The Bulls committed to being a winning team this year, going out and signing players like Lonzo Ball, Alex Caruso, and of course, DeMar DeRozan, to build a team that could be successful.

Chicago started this process last year by bringing in Nikola Vucevic to pair with their growing star in Zach Lavine, but the results are only panning out now. The Bulls look like a serious contender and DeMar DeRozan could be a genuine MVP candidate.

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Stephen A. Smith believes DeMar DeRozan should be in the MVP conversation

If you’ve been paying attention to the Bulls recently, you’ll know that DeRozan just broke a crazy scoring record that was previously held by legends like Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain.

The Bulls have needed DeRozan to be on his game as well. They’re missing several key starters due to injury including Zach Lavine, Lonzo Ball, Alex Caruso, and Patrick Williams. DeRozan has more than kept the ship afloat in the meantime. On the year, DeRozan is averaging a career high 28.1 points per game on 51.7% field goal shooting (good for 4th in the league), 5.2 rebounds per game, and 5.1 assists per game.

For those reasons, Stephen A. Smith believes that DeRozan should be talked about in the MVP conversation along with the other favorites like Giannis Antetokounmpo, Joel Embiid, and Nikola Jokic.

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Post Edited By: Ashish Priyadarshi
Basketball Chicago Bulls Demar Derozan NBA

About the author

Ashish Priyadarshi

Ashish Priyadarshi is The SportsRush's content manager and editor. Ashish freelanced for 1 year in the NFL division before taking on an editorial role in the company. He then tacked on managing content while adding on a writing role in the NBA division. Ashish has been closely following the NFL and NBA since the 2012 season when the Patriots lost the Super Bowl and Derrick Rose was at the height of his powers. Since then, Ashish has focused on honing his knowledge for both leagues in, even writing crossover pieces. In his free time, Ashish is an avid basketball player, he loves to watch movies and TV shows, immersing himself in the cinematic world. Ashish studies computer science and data science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and would love to mesh his love for sports with his technical skills.

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