{"id":167825,"date":"2025-11-24T15:19:46","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T20:19:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=167825"},"modified":"2025-11-24T15:38:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T20:38:11","slug":"clippers-eyeing-demar-derozan-trade-no-one-saw-coming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/11\/24\/clippers-eyeing-demar-derozan-trade-no-one-saw-coming\/","title":{"rendered":"The Clippers Are Eyeing a $24 Million Trade No One Saw Coming"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Los Angeles Clippers didn\u2019t begin the season as they had hoped to, but can a new trade change that? When they made their offseason moves, the Clippers hoped to contend for this season and the next one, and then have large cap space in the summer of 2027. But this season, things are not going their way, and it seems like they are not done reshaping their roster.<\/p>\n

The newest target might be the most surprising fit yet. In a league where three-point shooting is crucial, the Clippers are collecting mid-range shooters. With Kawhi Leonard<\/a> and Chris Paul<\/a> on the team, the Clippers want another mid-range star: DeMar DeRozan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Clippers Are Eyeing a $24 Million Trade No One Saw Coming<\/h2>\n

With their 2026 first-round pick in danger, the Clippers are leaning even more into adding aging stars. But the rumored trade<\/a> between the Clippers and the Sacramento Kings is a surprising one. They seem to be leaning even more into their mid-range identity. Is adding DeRozan, a 36-year-old mid-range player, the major move to turn the franchise around? Does it make them a playoff contender, or turn this season into a bigger chaos machine?<\/p>\n

Can the Los Angeles Clippers Pull Off a DeRozan Trade?<\/h3>\n

With reports that the Kings are ready for a fire sale<\/a>, teams around the league will probably start to call about their veteran players. Despite his age, DeRozan is having an efficient season. He averages 17.9 points on 49.5% shooting from the floor and 36.1% from behind the arc.<\/p>\n

He has a $24.5 million salary for this season and $25.7 million for the next one, which is not fully guaranteed. For the Clippers to make a deal, they will likely have to send a combination of Bogdan Bogdanovic<\/a> ($16 million), Derrick Jones Jr<\/a>. ($10 million), Kris Dunn<\/a> ($5.4 million), or possibly reroute John Collins<\/a> and his $26 million contract.<\/p>\n

The bigger problem is the draft compensation. If the Kings ask for a pick, the Clippers do not have many of those. They hope to get out of draft jail by 2030, and trading future picks now for DeRozan is not an option.<\/p>\n

\"Jan
Jan 6, 2025; Sacramento, California, USA; Sacramento Kings forward DeMar DeRozan (10) takes a jump shot during the third quarter against the Miami Heat at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Can the Clippers Avoid a Disaster?<\/h3>\n

The problem for the Clippers is that their 2026 draft pick<\/a> is not protected. They owe it to the Oklahoma City Thunder. If the season ended today, that would be the eighth pick<\/a> in the 2026 draft. Of course, that doesn\u2019t take into consideration the possibility of moving up in the lottery.<\/p>\n

The team is 2-8 in their last 10 games, but they are far from healthy, with key players out<\/a>. To make matters worse, some of the teams that were supposed to be in the lottery are playing well, like the Portland Trail Blazers. Playing in the crowded Western Conference is always a challenge, and this season, making even the play-in will be harder than most years.<\/p>\n

Is DeRozan the answer for the Clippers? Well, the only good thing about that move is that he doesn\u2019t have a long-term contract. Even if things do not go as planned, the Clippers can still continue their plan of making a splash<\/a> in the summer of 2027.<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Ken Blaze-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Los Angeles Clippers didn\u2019t begin the season as they had hoped to, but can a new trade change that? When they made their offseason moves, the Clippers hoped to contend for this season and the next one, and then have large cap space in the summer of 2027. But this season, things are not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5291,"featured_media":167837,"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":[1608,27,62,3,4721],"tags":[1227,350,749,444,998,168,458],"class_list":["post-167825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-clippers","category-nba","category-news","category-trade-rumors","tag-bogdan-bogdanovic","tag-demar-derozan","tag-derrick-jones-jr","tag-james-harden","tag-john-collins","tag-kawhi-leonard","tag-kris-dunn"],"modified_by":"Jordan Pagkalinawan, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167825","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\/5291"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167825"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167825\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":167838,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167825\/revisions\/167838"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}