In 2017, the San Antonio Spurs extended LaMarcus Aldridge because they had no other option. When it comes to DeMar DeRozan, however, they do.
Extensions should be reserved for cornerstone pieces in the NBA. Tying up future cap space in a player that may not positively impact the team’s title odds is a move losing teams make. It goes without saying that the San Antonio Spurs are not a losing team. When it comes to extending DeMar DeRozan, the Spurs should respectively decline.
Entering the fourth season of the five-year deal DeRozan signed with Toronto in 2016, the veteran guard is eligible to be extended. Should he not extend before the Oct. 21 deadline, DeRozan will have a $27.7 million player option next summer.
Before making the case against a DeRozan extension, let’s make a couple of things clear. DeRozan is a good player, especially for a team like San Antonio that refuses to rebuild and wants to remain relevant at all times — even if it means hurting future championship potential.
Last season, DeRozan averaged 21.2 points, 6.2 assists and 6.0 rebounds per game. Excluding his rookie season, his 48.1 field goal percentage was a career-high.
DeRozan’s passing also reached a new benchmark, ranking in the 98th percentile in assist percentage among wings, per Cleaning The Glass.
Once a laughingstock of a postseason performer, DeRozan had a nice first-round series against the Denver Nuggets that helped push the No. 1 seed to seven games.
Other numbers, however, suggest nothing has changed with DeRozan. He still can’t make 3s (15.6 percent last season), and unlike his last year in Toronto, he didn’t even try very often in San Antonio (0.6 attempts per game). He still can’t defend and was a negative in on/off differential for the seventh season in a row.
When the Spurs extended LaMarcus Aldridge two years ago, it was quite a surprise to the NBA universe. There was some friction between the two parties and it felt like we were closer to seeing a breakup than a long-term commitment.
San Antonio realized that it was going to be hard to upgrade from Aldridge, however, so it inked him for three additional years. In the two seasons since the extension, Aldridge has averaged 22.2 points and 8.8 rebounds per game on 51.4 percent shooting.
Unlike DeRozan, however, Aldridge has only been a negative player twice in his career (one last season; minus-0.3) and was a plus-10.4 in 2017-18.
When tasked with finding an upgrade over DeRozan, it’s not as tough. DeRozan is a productive offensive player, but he lacks two key abilities: shooting and defense. If he just had one of those locked down, this would be a different discussion. He doesn’t, though, and it drags down any team he’s on.
DeRozan isn’t a player that should just be dumped, but the Spurs shouldn’t commit to him any further. He’s likely to be under contract for the next two years, after all, and the Spurs have three guards in Dejounte Murray, Lonnie Walker IV and Derrick White that all need playing time.
Then there’s Bryn Forbes and Patty Mills, who both offer shooting. Move DeRozan to the 3 and he’s taking time away from DeMarre Carroll, another solid shooter and defender, as well as Rudy Gay.
Perhaps head coach Gregg Popovich and the Spurs are willing to make these concessions now, as DeRozan is a natural floor-raiser with his scoring and will give San Antonio a good shot at making the playoffs every season.
However, after having at least one of David Robinson, Tim Duncan and Kawhi Leonard for 30 years, the Spurs no longer have a franchise face and need to start preparing for the future. In the grand scheme of things, swallowing two more years of DeRozan isn’t all that damaging. Extending him, though, would be.