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The trade chatter around Chicago Bulls star DeMar DeRozan has been quiet. He may have inadvertently given the speculation a bit of a boost with an appearance on South Beach alongside Jimmy Butler and Kyle Lowry ahead of the Bulls’ tilt against the Miami Heat.
DeRozan and Lowry are old friends from their time as teammates with the Toronto Raptors.
Butler trolled DeRozan, saying he was Lowry’s “new bestie” after the guard was traded to the Heat in 2021.
DeRozan, 34, is in the final year of a three-year, $81.9 million contract.
He has maintained that he would like to return to the Bulls on a new contract. And there is interest from the Bulls in bringing DeRozan back for what he brings on the court and in the locker room with the team’s younger players.
However, Bleacher Report’s Chris Hayes reported on December 11 that the two sides were “far apart” on a new deal and that the Bulls could look to move him rather than risk losing him for nothing in free agency.
DeMar DeRozan Remains Committed to Bulls
The speculation about DeRozan’s future has remained even as the Bulls’, who are now 10-16, continue to climb their way back from their 5-14 start
“Chicago is Chicago to me,” DeRozan said, per Julia Poe of the Chicago Tribune on December 15. “I love it here. Obviously it’s a place I want to be in my career. None of that has changed. I don’t have no other type of doubts or feelings or suggestions to be elsewhere. That don’t cross my mind.”
DeRozan has touted the fact that he has never requested a trade in his career before, and he has said that he doesn’t plan to change that.
“Nah. My whole life, I’ve always been this way: Control what you can control,” DeRozan said, per NBC Sports Chicago’s K.C. Johnson on October 31. “This may sound cliché, but I’m big on being professional even in the toughest of times.”
This season is his third with the Bulls, and their start was admittedly rough.
Proposal Trades DeMar DeRozan to Heat
This visual might put fans of both teams on high alert. And Miami was one of the teams DeRozan would prefer if traded. But the meeting isn’t likely to represent any potential trade between the two teams.
“DeMar DeRozan has been a name linked for years to the Heat, and, yes, he does check many of the boxes of a Heat type of player,” wrote Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel on December 16. “That said … to make the salary math work, you would be giving up Kyle Lowry, leaving the Heat without a true point guard.”
Winderman also noted how far he would be willing to go to land DeRozan.
“It also would come down to the sweetener with Lowry,” Winderman wrote. “I wouldn’t give up Jaime Jaquez Jr., but might consider Caleb Martin, in light of Caleb’s impending free agency.”
Bulls get:
– Kyle Lowry
– Caleb Martin
– First-round pick
Heat get:
– DeMar DeRozan
The Heat could offer Chicago a package of Martin, Duncan Robinson, and draft capital, thus keeping the friendly trio of Butler, DeRozan, and Lowry together. But that won’t help Miami’s floor spacing.
And the pick is where Winderman would draw the line.
“DeMar … is an impending free agent. And I’m not sure you move a draft pick for a 34-year-old,” Winderman argued. “Yes, DeMar could help. But the cost could prove prohibitive.”
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