NBA Trade Idea Sends DeMar DeRozan to Eastern Conference Contender

Another day, another trade proposal for a Sacramento Kings team that desperately needs to figure out how to maximize its roster. New general manager, Scott Perry and now official head coach, Doug Christie, are starting the 2025 offseason with more questions than answers despite the talent level in Sacramento.

The Kings’ starting lineup includes 11 All-Star berths among Domantas Sabonis, DeMar DeRozan, and Zach LaVine, but playing winning basketball is more than just acquiring talent. The teams that have taken a more holistic approach to team building have been much more successful than those that simply add All-Stars to their team with no consideration of fit.

The Kings absolutely fell victim to this fallacy, bringing in Zach LaVine to partner with DeRozan (again). LaVine and DeRozan struggled together in Chicago, and the same issues (unsurprisingly) popped up during the second half of the season in Sacramento.

LaVine and DeRozan are both incredible offensive talents, but their heliocentric styles hurt Sacramento’s spacing and made the offense look clunky altogether. The offensive issues that DeRozan and LaVine create would be one thing, but their defense might be the biggest problem. In 879 minutes together, LaVine and DeRozan posted a 120.6 defensive rating, which was the worst among the Kings’ two-man lineups with at least 500 minutes.

DeRozan and LaVine are veterans by now and it’s unlikely that they will suddenly change their playstles so a trade may be the only way forward. While LaVine might be a more valuable player at this stage of his career, DeRozan might be the most valued by other NBA teams due to his reasonable contract while still averaging 22 points per game on solid efficiency. Despite his age, DeRozan would be a great addition for a team looking for an efficient isolation scorer who rarely turns the ball over.

The bottom 10 in Isolation Turnover Rate

1. Jared Butler
2. Anthony Davis
3. DeMar DeRozan
4. Jalen Williams
5. Cam Thomas
6. SGA
7. Donovan Mitchell
8. Jimmy Butler
9. Jamal Murray
10. Kyrie Irving

These players turn it over the least
-2 iso's/75 to qualify
— BBall Index (@The_BBall_Index) April 3, 2025

The next question is, which team should look to acquire the NBA’s 25th all time leading scorer?

After getting ousted by the New York Knicks, the Detroit Pistons will have the rest off the offseason to improve some of the issues that prevented them from being more competitive against New York. While Cade Cunningham is an incredible talent and is fully capable of being the number one scorer on a playoff team (as seen this season), he needs a bit more help if the Pistons are going to beat the best of the East.

Guys Like Tobias Harris, Malik Beasley, and Dennis Schröder all did what they could to help Cade shoulder the scoring load, but it was clear the team needed a more consistent scoring option when Cunningham was locked up by one of NY’s elite wing defenders. If the Pistons do decide to look at bringing in DeMar, what would a trade look like?

In this trade scenario, the Pistons sign and trade Dennis Schröder to the Kings along with Simone Fontecchio while bringing in the former USC product in DeRozan. On paper, this looks great for Detroit. Of course, DeRozan isn’t a young player anymore and Detroit would be adding someone who doesn’t fit their core’s timeline, however, he would give them a scoring buffer while Jaden Ivey, Jalen Duren, and Ausar Thompson continue to develop their offensive talent.

DeRozan’s $23.4M salary is still great value for his talent and Detroit would be acquiring him for very little while opening up a roster spot and staying under the first apron.

For Sacramento fans, this trade might seem more like addition by subtraction (no offense to Schöder and Fontecchio). DeRozan, LaVine, and Sabonis simply do not fit together and moving one (or more) of the three should be a priority this summer for Scott Perry. However, Schröder and Fontecchio could prove to be useful additions as well as serving the purpose of balancing the roster.

Schröder is a veteran and has averaged at least 10 points and 4 assists per game every single year, other than his rookie season in Atlanta. Schröder would give Sacramento an option at point guard just in case a more high-profile player is not available, and it’s clear that Perry is looking for a solution at the lead guard spot.

According to Perry, the Kings need to address the point guard position and add length and athleticism to support some of the pieces already in place.
— James Ham (@James_HamNBA) April 23, 2025

Fontecchio could be a sneaky good add as well, despite his lack of minutes for Detroit this season. The 6’8” wing from Pescara, Italy shot a blistering 42.6% from deep in the 23/24 season and 39% the year before that on 6.3 and 4.7 attempts per game respectively. Simone is a bit older for his experience in the NBA at 29, but he would be a great buy low candidate for a Kings team that desperately needs some size and shooting.

If I’m Scott Perry and Trajan Landgon calls with this trade, I wouldn’t think twice.

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