Monday, December 23, 2024

Sources: Kings land DeRozan for 3 years, $74M

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The Sacramento Kings are acquiring free agent guard DeMar DeRozan in a three-year, $74 million sign-and-trade deal, sources told ESPN on Saturday night.

The Kings are trading forward Harrison Barnes and an unprotected 2031 pick swap to the San Antonio Spurs and guard Chris Duarte, two second-round draft picks and cash to the Chicago Bulls, sources said.

The Kings pursued DeRozan to partner with All-Star guard De’Aaron Fox, All-Star center Domantas Sabonis and promising young forward Keegan Murray in a bid to become a more explosive offensive team in the Western Conference.

DeRozan — a six-time All-Star who will turn 35 next month — is coming off an impressive three-year scoring run with the Bulls in which he made the All-Star team in each of the first two campaigns before averaging 24 points, 4.3 rebounds and 5.3 assists this past season. He also finished second to Stephen Curry in voting for the NBA’s Clutch Player of the Year Award.

DeRozan traveled to Sacramento on Saturday to meet with team officials and Kings coach Mike Brown, who signed an offseason contract extension. Brown led the franchise to back-to-back winnings seasons for the first time since 2006.

DeRozan, a three-time All-NBA selection, was the ninth overall pick by the Toronto Raptors in 2009, and he has played for the Raptors, Spurs and Bulls across his 15 NBA seasons. He has averaged 21.2 points, 4.4 rebounds and 4.1 assists through his 1,110 career NBA games.

The Spurs bring on Barnes, 32, to join free agent arrival Chris Paul alongside unanimous Rookie of the Year Victor Wembanyama.

Barnes, who played 82 games in each of the past two seasons with Sacramento, averaged 12.2 points and three rebounds for the Kings, shooting 47.4% overall and 38.7% from 3-point range on 4.7 attempts per game.

Barnes, who won an NBA title in 2015 with the Golden State Warriors, spent the past 5½ seasons with Sacramento after arriving from the Dallas Mavericks in a trade-deadline deal. He has career averages of 14 points and 4.9 rebounds since being taken with the seventh pick in the 2012 NBA draft by the Warriors.

The Spurs will take Barnes into their remaining cap space to make the deal work.

Duarte, 27, averaged 3.9 points in 59 games last season for the Kings, who traded two second-round picks to acquire him from the Indiana Pacers last summer.

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