{"id":119158,"date":"2025-01-20T13:17:26","date_gmt":"2025-01-20T18:17:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=119158"},"modified":"2025-01-20T13:18:51","modified_gmt":"2025-01-20T18:18:51","slug":"kings-demar-derozan-surpasses-influential-76ers-icon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/01\/20\/kings-demar-derozan-surpasses-influential-76ers-icon\/","title":{"rendered":"Kings&#8217; DeMar DeRozan Surpasses Influential 76ers Legend"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Sacramento Kings\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/01\/19\/sacramento-kings-turned-things-around-under-doug-christie\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">continue to roll following Sunday&#8217;s latest win<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0over the lowly Washington Wizards. Sacramento has looked entirely different under former Kings player\u00a0<a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/chrisdo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Doug Christie<\/a>. The night&#8217;s highlight, however, belonged to Kings&#8217; shooting guard\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/derozde01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">DeMar DeRozan<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, who\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/stats\/alltime-leaders\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">moved up in the NBA&#8217;s all-time scoring ranks<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, surpassing a past legend in the process.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Kings&#8217; DeMar DeRozan Surpasses Influential 76ers Legend<\/h2>\n<h3>King&#8217;s DeMar DeRozan Moves Up On NBA&#8217;s All-Time Scoring List<\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">You&#8217;re a great basketball player if you&#8217;re in the top 30 in point getters in NBA history. It&#8217;s simply a matter of fact. DeRozan is a great basketball player who woke up Monday morning sitting in 29th place on the NBA&#8217;s scoring list all-time. He reached the milestone on his patented shot, the mid-range, while guarded by\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/k\/kuzmaky01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Kyle Kuzma<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">. The shot went down to end the first half on an assist by\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/f\/foxde01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">De&#8217;Aaron Fox<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">. It&#8217;s fitting that DeRozan&#8217;s feat came on a shot that the NBA has aggressively moved away from in recent years with the emergence of the three-point shot. The shift in scoring has never kept DeRozan from sticking to his guns, though. He remains one of, if not the best, mid-range jump shooters in the league today.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Surpassing &#8220;The Answer&#8221;<\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">As soon as DeRozan&#8217;s shot hit the net, he surpassed\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/01\/18\/joel-embiids-injury-setback-could-dictate-76ers-future-plans-and-4-trade-candidates\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Philadelphia 76ers<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0legendary icon\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/i\/iversal01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Allen Iverson<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0in the same breath. Iverson retired from the game with 24,368 points. He was a seasoned scorer in his day with Philly and then with the Denver Nuggets. Electrifying and captivating off the court just as he was on the court, Iverson will always be known as one of the greatest scorers of the basketball the NBA has ever seen.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">While DeRozan&#8217;s game is much different from Iverson&#8217;s and not quite as electric, the former\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/01\/19\/raptors-ready-to-be-player-at-trade-deadline\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Toronto Raptors<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0draft pick is as dominant and offensively threatening as Iverson. While his mid-range is killer, DeRozan also has the size and strength to drive to the basket. His shooting has attributed to a career 21.3 PPG, and now 24,379 points in total, with many middy&#8217;s left to hit. Imagine if DeRozan was as good of a three-point marksman as <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">he is<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> a mid-range one. He would have moved up the scoring list much quicker.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Kings On the March<\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">DeRozan&#8217;s tenure in Sacramento got off to a sluggish start. Even though he, Fox, and\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/sabondo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Domantas Sabonis<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0have each averaged 20-plus points per game all season long, the team struggled mightily. So much so that before Mike Brown&#8217;s firing, they were well out of the playoff picture and well below .500.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Well, the tides have changed, it would appear, and the Kings have gone 9-2 with Christie at the helm. DeRozan has been an integral part of the turnaround, and his offensive impact is benefiting the Kings in a big way. Having moved back into playoff positioning and above .500, Sacramento looks <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">to be<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> back on the right track. They&#8217;re marching toward the postseason under Christie, who would almost certainly be rewarded a permanent place as head coach. <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">As for DeRozan, he has a chance to leapfrog\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/curryst01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Steph Curry<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0(24,428) by the season&#8217;s end. That would be ironic\u2014the mid-range specialist surpasses the three-point specialist.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Sacramento Kings\u00a0continue to roll following Sunday&#8217;s latest win\u00a0over the lowly Washington Wizards. Sacramento has looked entirely different under former Kings player\u00a0Doug Christie. The night&#8217;s highlight, however, belonged to Kings&#8217; shooting guard\u00a0DeMar DeRozan, who\u00a0moved up in the NBA&#8217;s all-time scoring ranks, surpassing a past legend in the process. Kings&#8217; DeMar DeRozan Surpasses Influential 76ers Legend [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5081,"featured_media":119162,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[29,1608,62],"tags":[122,664,350,1102,49916,1128,48],"class_list":["post-119158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kings","category-basketball","category-nba","tag-allen-iverson","tag-deaaron-fox","tag-demar-derozan","tag-domantas-sabonis","tag-doug-christie","tag-kyle-kuzma","tag-stephen-curry"],"modified_by":"Aaron J Zacharias","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5081"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119158"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119158\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":119173,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119158\/revisions\/119173"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}