(Audacy) All-Star forward DeMar DeRozan had laid the groundwork ahead of time that he wanted to play in Los Angeles for the Lakers. But when he was a free agent last summer, that didn't fall into place and he ended up joining the Bulls via a sign-and-trade from the San Antonio Spurs.
Days before free agency started, the Lakers made the ill-fated decision to acquire guard Russell Westbrook from the Wizards, essentially closing the deal on any pursuit of DeRozan. Given Westbrook has been a mess this season while DeRozan has been a star for the Bulls, Lakers legend and former executive Magic Johnson really fanned the flames this week when he blamed star LeBron James for a potential deal falling through with DeRozan.
Interestingly, it might not have been squarely on James. While appearing on the “Brian Windhorst and the Hoop Collective” podcast, ESPN reporter Ohm Youngmisuk explained he had gotten the sense that DeRozan didn’t walk away from his interactions with the Lakers impressed.
"When Magic talks, you always get a sense that there’s a lot of disarray, there’s a lot of problems, there’s no cohesion with the people who make decisions with the Lakers,” Youngmisuk said. “Magic has a longtime relationship with DeMar DeRozan’s agent, Aaron Goodwin. They go back over two decades, they are very tight. Have they had their ups and downs? Yes, but that’s another story for another day. But basically, Magic is saying I brought them DeMar DeRozan and they could’ve had DeMar DeRozan, and whatever happened it didn’t work out and they ended up with Russell Westbrook.
“I talked to someone from DeRozan’s camp when DeRozan was in town in L.A. and he basically stuck it to the Lakers. And the impression that I got from his camp was that DeRozan felt that the Lakers were in sort of disarray, they didn’t have a vision, they didn’t know what they were doing. And the Clippers, to Bobby (Marks’) point, didn’t have much to offer at all. But if they did and could’ve pulled something off and paid him and maybe done a sign-and-trade, DeRozan’s camp actually was impressed with the Clipper vision. Not to say he would’ve ended up there, but he did want to be in L.A. And, of course, things worked out in Chicago.”
The Lakers’ season has been an unmitigated disaster, and it’s fair to say that swapping DeRozan for Westbrook could've at least helped ensure Los Angeles would’ve gotten into the play-in tournament.
Ultimately, the Lakers’ woes only seems to validate the thinking that Youngmisuk sensed from DeRozan’s camp. They're a disaster of a team that has no immediate path to getting better. Meanwhile, DeRozan and the Bulls are one win away from clinching the organization's first playoff berth since 2017.
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