Magic Johnson Says LeBron James Chose Westbrook over DeRozan

At this point, it is no secret that Chicago Bulls star DeMar DeRozan had thoughts of returning home to Los Angeles this summer. Whether that was with the Clippers or the Lakers, the All-Star forward seemingly had his sights set on a homecoming. While the fit of DeRozan in Chicago has been seamless so far, details continue to emerge about what exactly transpired during his free agency this past summer.

During an appearance on Serge Ibaka's cooking show, DeRozan admitted that the Clippers were a real possibility for him in the offseason. According to DeMar, if he had met with the Clippers a day earlier, it could have worked. Ultimately, with Chicago's offer being what it was, there was never much chance for the Clippers to match that number.

DeRozan also revealed that he and Paul George even spoke about the possibility of teaming up. "It really was a real possibility. We got the deal done with Chicago... I talked to PG about it, we was really talking about it, we was really trying to figure it out to make it happen. What needed to be figured out, didn't get figured out. I'm being dead serious, no bullshit. I haven't even talked about it. It was a real opportunity," DeRozan said.

While these details about DeRozan's near reunion in Los Angeles with the Clippers have been public for a while now, Lakers legend Magic Johnson recently revealed what went wrong in their pursuit of DeMar DeRozan. During an appearance on ESPN's Get Up segment, Magic said LeBron James is to blame for the Lakers missing out on DeRozan.

"The blame he has to take, is that DeRozan ended up in Chicago and not with the Lakers," Magic said of LeBron. "DeRozan wanted to play for the Lakers... DeRozan could've been a Laker instead of a Bull. We could've made that deal. But when Russell and LeBron started talking, that's when they nixed that deal and went with Russell Westbrook, and he became a Laker instead of DeRozan."

.@MagicJohnson says the Lakers could’ve had DeRozan, Hield and Caruso instead of Westbrook 👀

"If you sign DeRozan, you only trade Kuzma for Buddy Hield, we would be playing in the Western Conference championship this year with those two guys." pic.twitter.com/hZ7DdPhWu1
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) April 4, 2022