DeMar DeRozan has blossomed into one of the best scorers in the NBA over the past few seasons for the Toronto Raptors. The 27 year old shooting guard was the ninth overall pick back in 2009 and had immense potential back then that he has truly started to reach recently. DeRozan has two years left on his contract as $9.5 million per year but the second year is a player option which he is expected to opt out of so it is likely he will become an unrestricted free agent next summer. Raptors general manager Masai Ujiri though said that they will not talk about a contract extension before the season, according to Free Association.
When DeRozan signed the four year $38 million deal back in 2013 he was a good NBA player but now he is a very good NBA player that made the All-Star team two seasons ago and he justifiably wants to cash out on this opportunity. Ujiri is of the same mindset as DeRozan in that he knows that DeRozan thinks he is worth more than $9.5 million and he happens to agree. If DeRozan were to sign an extension with the Raptors now he would limit himself in terms of how much money he could make. By becoming a free agent next summer he will be able to max out his value.
"There will be no extension talks with DeMar before the end of the 2015-16 season. He can only extend for a certain amount of money and I just foresee that DeMar sees himself, and we see him, as more than that type of a player. So I think DeMar is going to wait to see how it goes this year and do the best deal for himself, and we'll do the best deal for ourselves, too," said Ujiri.
Just because DeRozan will become a free agent doesn't mean he is unlikely to be back with Toronto after this season. Ujiri clearly thinks that he is a valuable player it will just be a matter of whether the Raptors think he is worth as much money as another team is willing to pay him. With the cap going up next summer it is very possible that DeRozan could get a deal for more than $20 million a year which the Raptors may deem too hefty a price.
The 6 foot-7 shooting guard has averaged more than 20 points per game in the past two seasons but his shooting percentage has dropped in the last three and in 2014-15 it was all the way down to 41 percent. DeRozan also doesn't bring much perimeter shooting (career 27 percent three point shooter) but he is a tremendous athlete who can score with the best of them.
Scoring is a precious commodity to have in the NBA and DeRozan is one of the very best but the problem is he is trending towards inefficient scoring and is somewhat of a one-trick pony as he doesn't provide much else including defense. This will be a big year for DeRozan as he will look to solidify his value before he hits the open market looking for a big raise.
