The Miami Heat were reportedly one of several teams — along with squads like the Philadelphia 76ers, Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs — that DeMar DeRozan explored a contract with in the offseason prior to joining the Sacramento Kings in a sign-and-trade deal.
“DeRozan, who league sources say explored scenarios with the Philadelphia 76ers, Miami Heat, San Antonio Spurs and Warriors in search of a market value deal, had grown more fond of the Sacramento idea as time went on,” The Athletic’s Sam Amick and Anthony Slater wrote.
Back in July, it was reported that DeRozan and the Heat had mutual interest in each other. Additionally, The Athletic’s Jovan Buha reported in the same month that the Heat were seen as “slight favorites” to land DeRozan in free agency.
Just days after those rumors connecting DeRozan to the Heat, he landed with the Kings in a sign-and-trade deal that involved the Spurs and Chicago Bulls. The Bulls received Chris Duarte and a pair of second-round picks in the trade, and the Spurs landed Harrison Barnes.
In September, DeRozan revealed that Miami was a “real, personal, legitimate” option for him in free agency along with multiple other teams.
DeRozan would have been a big offseason addition for the Heat. He has his weaknesses — he’s not a great 3-point shooter and has some defensive flaws — but he was perhaps the Bulls’ best player and one of the top clutch performers in the NBA a season ago.
The 35-year-old stuffed the stat sheet on a nightly basis during his final season in Chicago. In 79 appearances with the Bulls, he averaged 24.0 points, 4.3 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.1 steals per game.
DeRozan also scored the most fourth-quarter points of anyone in the league during the 2023-24 regular season with 550. Thanks to his clutch heroics, he finished near the top in voting for Clutch Player of the Year. Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry took home the award.
For as appealing as the Heat might have been as a destination for DeRozan, one can understand why he decided to join the Kings instead. Sacramento has two relatively youthful stars with which to complement DeRozan in De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis as well as an impressive cast of supporting players.