Reflecting on DeMar DeRozan’s rocky first 2 years in Sacramento

A look back at DeMar DeRozan's first two seasons with the Sacramento Kings and what his legacy will be when he eventually moves on.

BY ANTHONY LUCAS

Apr 29, 2026, 6:36 AM

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DeMar DeRozan has been a hot topic online recently due to his confrontation with Carson Breber of the NerdSesh Podcast.

Breber described DeRozan’s potential to pass Shaquille O’Neal on the NBA all-time scoring list if he averaged 18 points per game for the next 105 games of his career as “disturbing.”

DeMar, who rarely posts on social media, called Carson a dweeb, and now everyone has an opinion about DeMar’s impact on basketball and his legacy as a potential top-10 scorer of all time.

Here in Sacramento, the discourse around DeMar DeRozan’s impact on a basketball team has been widely discussed for the past two years he has been here.

With general manager Scott Perry emphatically asserting that the Kings will not be in the luxury tax next season, DeMar might not be here in the 916, making it worth taking a look at his time here and, more importantly, the professionalism and poise he has shown in handling getting on a sinking ship that was the Beam Team.

DeMar Derozan calls critic a ‘clown’ after describing DeRozan passing Shaq in all-time scoring as ‘disturbing’ 😳

(h/t @bball_ref) pic.twitter.com/p9GNsge5u3

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) April 11, 2026

DeMar DeRozan’s Rocky Sacramento Tenure

DeMar DeRozan joined the Sacramento Kings in the Summer of 2024 in a sign-and-trade that sent long-time King, Harrison Barnes, to San Antonio.

The Kings targeted DeMar in an effort to elevate them back to the 3-seed level of play Kings fans saw in their great playoff season in 2022-23, after falling to the 10-seed in the 2023-24 season.

What nobody really knew at the time was that the ship was already sinking.

In his first season in Sacramento, head coach Mike Brown was fired 31 games into the regular season after a 5 game losing streak. This chaos quickly turned into the franchise star DeAaron Fox requesting a trade specifically to San Antonio.

This forced the Kings to trade their star player for Zach LaVine in a deal that likely would have been the worst of the season if Luka Doncic hadn’t been shipped to LA in a deal that is considered one of the worst of all time.

The Kings treaded water for the rest of the season with interim head coach Doug Christie leading them to a 42-40 record, the 9-seed in the West, and a Play-In exit at the hands of the Dallas Mavericks.

DeMar DeRozan stayed consistent during this incredibly turbulent time for the franchise, attempting .9 more field goals per game and having a 2.2% increase in effective field-goal percentage compared to his career averages.

INGLEWOOD, CALIFORNIA - DECEMBER 30: Demar Derozan #10 of the Sacramento Kings in action against the Los Angeles Clippers at Intuit Dome on December 30, 2025 in Inglewood, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Luke Hales/Getty Images)

(Photo by Luke Hales/Getty Images)

Say what you want about the Sacramento Kings and the way they handled the post-Fox/Brown era, DeMar DeRozan did his best in that first season to do what he was brought to the Kings to do: provide another consistent scoring option for a team that had struggled with consistency in that area.

Following that loss to the Dallas Mavericks to end their 2024 season, former Kings GM Monte McNair parted ways with the organization, and Scott Perry took the helm.

Perry immediately made it clear that his goal in Sacramento was to rebuild and get younger. Doug Christie was hired as the head coach, shedding the interim title, and the Kings made moves to get into the first round of the draft, selecting Nique Clifford and Maxime Raynaud with their existing 2nd-round pick.

Russell Westbrook was signed, DeMar returned to the squad, and a few more veterans were added to steer the ship and establish a new culture and identity.

The Kings were injured and just plain underperformed all 2025-26, ending the season with a 22-60 record. Through this horrible season as a team, DeMar just kept playing basketball as he does best, but at a lower rate on average, deferring to the younger guys as the focus increasingly went to their development rather than winning games day in and day out.

He averaged 3.9 shot attempts less than he did in his prior season with the Kings and did it with a smile on his face for the most part.

When he joined the team, his expectation must’ve been to elevate a team on the cusp of being a playoff contender into a legitimate team that would compete with the best of the Western Conference.

This expectation was ripped to shreds within the first half of his first season in Sacramento, and he never once complained about it. He voiced his frustration from time to time, but nobody would have blamed him for wanting out, and there have not been any reports of him asking to leave since the moment he set foot in Sacramento.

SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 06: Demar Derozan #10 of the Sacramento Kings complains about a call during their game against the Dallas Mavericks at Golden 1 Center on January 06, 2026 in Sacramento, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

(Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

He is likely in the last few years of his career, and many players would “ring-chase.” Instead, he chose professionalism; he did what was asked of him: to play his brand of basketball.

People can say what they want about his impact on the game of basketball in comparison to other NBA greats, but there is absolutely something to be said about a player who truly just wants to play the game of basketball, and DeMar DeRozan (self-admittedly) just wants to play basketball.

Kings fans, while they might’ve wanted to see less of it for draft position reasons, got to see DeMar do the same thing every night, play at a very high level on the offensive end.

There is a reason he is so high on the all-time scoring list; it just might not fit the narrative many people have about what makes a great basketball player.

Upcoming Sacramento Kings & NBA Offseason Schedule

Sunday, May 10th – NBA Draft Lottery
Thursday, June 4th– NBA Finals begin
Thursday, June 25th – NBA Draft (Round 1)
Friday, June 26th – NBA Draft (Round 2)
Tuesday, June 30th – NBA Free Agency negotiation period begins (3 PM PT)
Thursday, July 9th – NBA Las Vegas Summer League begins
Monday, July 13th – Free Agency moratorium ends / signings can become official