DeMar DeRozan Thought He Was Joining Lakers Until Westbrook Trade

Prior to joining Chicago, the five-time All-Star thought the idea of playing in Los Angeles was a “done deal.”

Before DeMar DeRozan signed his three-year deal with the Bulls through a sign-and-trade last summer, the Chicago star believed that he would have been playing for a Western Conference team.

The five-time All-Star recently appeared on The Old Man and Three podcast and revealed that he thought he was taking his talents out West to join the Lakers.

DeRozan took a trip to Mexico to get away and take his mind off his basketball future during the free agency period last summer. However, while on that getaway he fully anticipated playing with LeBron James and Anthony Davis in Los Angeles.

“I thought it was a done deal,” DeRozan told JJ Redick on the podcast.

However, DeRozan’s projected plans changed when his former Raptors teammate Kyle Lowry called him while he was sleep one morning and told him that the Lakers made the trade to acquire Russell Westbrook, bringing the star point guard back to his hometown to play with the Lakers.

“I was like… confused… looking at my phone like damn that did happen,” DeRozan said. “In my mind, that was the only option for me to go to. Like I was so on that. … I didn’t even entertain anything else because I am letting this situation work itself out. So when I seen the trade happen, I knew it was no way for me to go to the Lakers at this point.”

From that point, DeRozan went into scramble mode after he had been “hell bent” on playing for the Lakers. Six days later, as part of the Bulls’ plan to contend for a playoff spot in 2021-22, Chicago signed DeRozan in a series of acquisitions that also included the signings of Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso prior to his deal.

DeRozan averaged 27.9 points, 4.9 assists and 5.2 rebounds during the 2021–22 regular season. In the Bulls’ 4–1 series loss to the Bucks in the opening round of the NBA playoffs, he averaged 20.8 points, 1.8 steals, 4.8 assists and 5.4 rebounds.