DeMar DeRozan has opted out and is now an unrestricted free agent, but is he still in the Lakers’ crosshairs?
The Los Angeles Lakers are one of many teams in the NBA this offseason that will have ample cap room to try and sign the big-name free agents that will be available.
One of the bigger names that’s been expected to be available in 2016 NBA free agency is DeMar DeRozan, but it’s largely been the waiting game to see if he would opt out of the final year of his contract with the Toronto Raptors.
Reportedly on Monday, DeMar DeRozan did just that as he opted out of the final year of his deal and officially became an unrestricted free agent according to Chris Haynes of Cleveland.com:
Raptors G DeMar DeRozan has officially opted out and is a free agent, league sources informed @clevelanddotcom. His deadline was June 15.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) June 13, 2016
You can certainly file this bit of news under “things that don’t truly surprise anyone” that’s been keeping up with the NBA in recent months.
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Quite frankly, DeMar DeRozan has been expected to opt out of his contract for quite some time and test the waters in free agency. What’s interesting when it comes to a team like the Lakers, though, is that they are a team that has been heavily linked to the guard since the start of this past season.
The bulk of the buzz around the connection between the Lakers and DeRozan has been that it would be a homecoming for the Compton native as he also played his college basketball for the USC Trojans.
However, it’s also worth noting that it was reported that the Lakers weren’t actually interested in trying to sign the free agent and that DeRozan had expressed a desire to stay in Toronto by signing a new deal. That doesn’t mean that things haven’t changed since that time, but it’s at least worth noting what’s been said about the Lakers and DeMar DeRozan up to now.
Next: Top 25 NBA Free Agents in 2016
As is the case with everything in NBA free agency, these things are fluid. But you have to believe that DeRozan to the Lakers isn’t on the table for right now. We’ll see if that’s the way things stay in the coming weeks or if they change dramatically.