The whole basketball world is staring at one man's phone, waiting for LeBron James to end his free agency. Fair enough. But while everyone refreshes the same feed, the best pure scorer actually available just hit the open market, and he will not cost a first-round pick, a young starter, or even real cap space.
DeMar DeRozan is a free agent, and for a contender, he might be the biggest bargain of the summer.
How DeRozan became free money
Sacramento made it official on July 6: after trying and failing to find a trade, the rebuilding Kings simply waived him. Only $10 million of his $25.7 million salary for next season was guaranteed, so cutting him was the cheap way out of a veteran contract that no longer fit the timeline. The front office called it a financial decision, which is the polite way of saying the roster is headed somewhere a 36-year-old bucket-getter cannot help.
Here is the part that should make every contender sit up: the man can still score. In his 17th season, DeRozan averaged 18.4 points on nearly 50 percent shooting for a bad team. The midrange bag is intact, the free throws still come in bunches, and he has missed almost no basketball in years. Whoever signs him pays a fraction of what that production costs anywhere else, because the Kings already ate the contract.
The catch: everyone is waiting on LeBron
There is one problem, and it is the same problem the entire league has. The veteran market is frozen until LeBron picks a team. Contenders holding their exceptions and minimum slots do not want to spend them until they know whether the biggest domino lands on them. Miami in particular has every reason to stall: you do not fill your bench before you know if LeBron is coming to headline it.
So DeRozan waits, the suitors circle, and the moment LeBron signs, expect this market to move in hours, not days. Here is where he fits.
Miami: the closer Giannis needs
The cleanest basketball case. The Heat built a monster this summer and paid for it with depth, and what the roster is missing is exactly what DeRozan does: create a shot out of nothing when the offense stalls. Pair Giannis Antetokounmpo with a pick-and-roll partner who lives in the midrange, let DeRozan run the second unit, and let him close the games he has earned. Miami has spent two decades squeezing playoff value out of veteran scorers. This one comes pre-squeezed.
Toronto: the reunion that writes itself
DeRozan spent nine years as the face of the Raptors, and the fit in 2026 is more than nostalgia. Toronto now employs Kawhi Leonard, the man the franchise once traded DeRozan to get, and Kawhi's regular seasons come with maintenance nights built in. Somebody has to soak up all that usage from October to April. A DeRozan homecoming solves that while giving one of the league's most loyal fan bases the ending it has wanted for eight years. The story is almost too neat.
Denver: buckets for the minutes Jokic sits
Denver's eternal problem is what happens when Nikola Jokic rests, and the Nuggets keep hunting for anyone not named Jamal Murray who can be trusted to create offense. DeRozan off the bench, feasting on second units for 20 minutes a night, is the tidiest answer available. The defense would be a real concern in a starting group, but as the engine of a bench unit, he turns Denver's weakest stretches into a strength.
San Antonio: the romantic option
DeRozan spent three years in San Antonio and left on good terms, and going back now means playing next to Victor Wembanyama instead of carrying a rebuild. The Spurs are young, hungry, and short on veterans who have lived through 15 playoff runs. This is the sentimental pick that also happens to make basketball sense, which is the rarest kind.
The wild cards: Detroit and Los Angeles
Detroit is the most interesting outside fit: a rising young core adding a proven closer who has seen everything. The Clippers make some sense on paper too, though neither Los Angeles team looks seriously in on him right now. If the market stays quiet past the LeBron decision, expect that to change fast. And no, not Orlando. Some fits are better left unbuilt.
The bottom line
At 36, DeRozan is not choosing money. The Kings already paid him to leave. He is choosing a role and a shot at the deep playoff run that has ducked him his whole career. That freedom is exactly what makes this fun: the best scorer on the market gets to pick the story he wants, closer in Miami, prodigal son in Toronto, fixer in Denver, mentor in San Antonio.
LeBron's decision will get the push alerts. But for the team that moves the second the domino falls, DeRozan might be the signing that actually swings a playoff series next spring. Free buckets do not stay free for long.
