“I wanted to come to Los Angeles”: DeMar DeRozan confirms to Draymond Green that he could’ve joined forces with LeBron James this offseason

DeMar DeRozan admits to Draymond Green that he could have joined the Los Angeles Lakers this past offseason, before signing with the Bulls. 

DeMar DeRozan is still a premier scorer in the NBA today, especially with him utilizing the art of the mid-range to generate buckets for his team. His decade long stint with the Toronto Raptors came to a screeching halt when Kawhi Leonard was acquired by the Raps in exchange for DeMar, leading to the Canadian team winning the championship that same year. 

The California native has spent the last three seasons with the San Antonio Spurs, a team that’s been middling in the Western Conference for quite some time now. With first round exits being the norm for the Spurs, they looked to head in a new direction this past offseason.

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This led to DeMar DeRozan signing with the Chicago Bulls as San Antonio looked to shed their star veterans to help develop younger talent like Dejounte Murray, Lonnie Walker IV, and Josh Primo. 

DeMar DeRozan talks about almost moving to Los Angeles this offseason. 

Draymond Green sat down with Demar DeRozan on ‘Chips’ to talk about various things ranging from how felt with Toronto winning it all to him possibly being a Los Angeles Laker by this time the 2021-22 season commences. 

“It was a real possibility. I’d be lying to you if I said that I didn’t want to come home. I did try to make it happen. Just, things didn’t work out. But you know, Chicago was always in my top 5, it was always on my radar,” said DeRozan on the possibility of being a Laker or a Clipper.

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Given that DeMar spent the entirety of his childhood in Compton, it was surprising to see him choose to go elsewhere. Perhaps neither LA teams were offering him a contract he was satisfied with. After all, they’re both locked up with star talent to the brim so accommodating the former Spur would have been quite the challenge. 

The Chicago Bulls looked extremely cohesive on both ends of the floor during the preseason. DeMar DeRozan has most definitely shed the narrative of ‘DeMar doesn’t pass’ over the past few years and so will be a CJ McCollum type player to Zach Lavine’s Damian Lillard going into next season.