When the time comes, will former Pac-10 All-Freshman and USC Trojan-turned-Sacramento Kings swingman DeMar DeRozan have accomplished enough to merit inclusion in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame?
The 6-foot-10 wing/guard just signed a three-year, $73.9 million deal with Sacramento that will take him through his age-37 season, or 2026-27. The current club, led by DeRozan and reigning 2023 All-Stars De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis (both missed the draft last year, as did DeRozan when he was with the Chicago Bulls), doesn’t appear to have enough defense to truly contend for a championship anytime soon, which would be DeRozan’s first.
The 35-year-old has had enough individual success to earn a spot in Springfield, but he’s had mixed results in the playoffs. To be fair, he’s been the best or second-best player on multiple Toronto Raptors teams that have made multiple deep playoff runs, including a berth in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2016. He hasn’t been eliminated from the first round since Toronto traded him in 2018.
DeRozan is a six-time All-Star and three-time All-NBA selection. He twice finished among the top three players in Clutch Player of the Year voting and was a three-time top 11 MVP vote-getter.
Over his career, DeRozan averages 21.2 points on .469/.296/.841 shooting percentages, 4.4 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.0 steals per game. He has scored 23,582 career points. He is known for being a bit weak on defense, which has cost him dearly at times in the playoffs.
The incredibly durable veteran currently ranks 36th in NBA and ABA history (and 31st in the NBA alone), behind fellow 2009 draftee and first-ballot Hall of Famer Stephen Curry. All players above them have been or will be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Both Curry and DeRozan appear poised to surpass at least the five players above them before the end of their careers (barring a major injury) on the combined list: power forward Charles Barkley (23,757 career points), point guard Allen Iverson (24,368), Ray Allen (24,505), center Patrick Ewing (24,815) and center Artis Gilmore (24,941).
In his lone season with the Cardinal and Gold, DeRozan averaged 13.9 points on 52.3 percent shooting and 64.6 percent free throws, 5.7 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 0.9 steals per night.
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