Heading into this offseason, the Chicago Bulls have some tough decisions to make, and one of the toughest is what to do with DeMar DeRozan. The veteran wing is going to be a free agent, and the Bulls need to figure out if they want to bring him back and, more importantly, how much they are willing to pay him. Andy Bailey of Bleacher Report believes DeRozan will end up getting overpaid this offseason.
“At the outset, it should be noted that DeMar DeRozan is coming off one of the best three-year stretches of his decorated career,” Bailey wrote. “As a Chicago Bull, he’s averaged 25.5 points and 5.1 assists. He has a 10th-place MVP finish. And after his teams were plus-0.0 points per 100 possessions with him on the floor and plus-2.8 with him off it over the first 12 years of his career, that trend has flipped in Chicago. Over the last three years, the Bulls are plus-0.4 with DeRozan and minus-1.4 without him.
“But DeRozan will be 35 before the 2024-25 campaign starts. He was a minus defender this season, according to Dunks and Threes’ estimated plus-minus (one of the most trusted catch-all metrics in NBA front offices). And he’s still not a reliable three-point shooter in a league in which that skill has become almost crucial for guards and wings. His reputation and the fact that this is a relatively weak free-agent class mean he’ll probably sign another contract that will pay him around $20 million annually, but that will feel onerous by the end of the deal, when DeRozan is well into his late 30s.”
Paying DeRozan a massive chunk of change seems like a mistake for the Bulls.
