DeMar DeRozan Offers Hint As To Which Team 'Pissed Him Off' With Lowball Free Agency Offer

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Chicago Bulls All-Star guard DeMar DeRozan has been very vocal about how a lowball contract offer prior to the 2021-22 season fuels a lot of his motivation to perform at a high level. But he won't reveal which team it was that "pissed him off."

DeRozan, 33, was drafted No. 9 overall by the Raptors in 2009. He was controversially traded to the Spurs in 2018 and spent three seasons with San Antonio before he became a free agent in 2021.

Although DeRozan eventually ended up signing a three-year, $82 million deal with Chicago, he was "hell bent on playing for the Lakers." Los Angeles went with Russell Westbrook instead.

During an appearance on J.J. Reddick's Old Man & the Three podcast, DeRozan also revealed that a front office wanted him to take a veteran minimal deal. Seriously.

At least one NBA team thought that it could offer a five-time All-Star a minimum contract.


Someone offered that, yes. I’m not going to say who, someone did offer that and it was another team that said they wouldn’t even come to me with that and disrespect me in any type of way by offering that. But, yeah, that was a thing.

So what team was it?! That is the mystery for which DeRozan is not offering much help.

When asked about the offer during NBA All-Star Weekend, he gave the following hint:

DeRozan has scored 40+ points in 22 games throughout his career, so it wasn't particularly helpful.

The list of teams he indirectly provided includes:

Only nine of DeRozan's 22 40-point+ games occurred after 2021 free agency, which provided him with a vendetta to use as inspiration:

If DeRozan was talking about every 40-point game in his career, Chicago can be ruled out considering that he signed with the Bulls. As, likely, can be San Antonio considering that he was leaving the Spurs at the time. That would leave 13 teams with no clear answer.

If DeRozan was talking about 40-point games after the lowball offer, that narrows the list down to seven. Assuming that San Antonio didn't ask him to stay on a veteran minimum deal, it's down to six.

So which team was it? We may never know. DeRozan may never share.

Based on the new information, though, it looks like the team that lowballed DeRozan was either the Magic, 76ers, Clippers, Celtics, Bucks or Cavaliers.