Coming into this season, expectations were high for the Sacramento Kings. The main reason for this was because they executed a sign-and-trade for six-time All-Star DeMar DeRozan this past offseason.
However, what seemed like a smart move at the time is now aging like spilled milk.
The Kings shouldn't have traded for DeMar DeRozan
After adding the former All-NBA wing without giving up much in return (or so we thought), the Kings thought they would be improving upon their success from past seasons. Unfortunately, it hasn't worked out that way. The Kings still have eight games left to go, yet they already have more losses this year (38) than they did last season (36).
DeRozan has put him some respectable numbers, averaging 22.0 PPG, 3.9 RPG, and 4.3 APG on 57.6% true shooting. However, despite his impressive box score line, the Kings aren't doing much winning when he's on the floor. On the season, the Kings are only 1.5 points per 100 possessions better when DeRozan is on the floor compared to when he's on the bench. That is hardly the figure you want to see from a player of his caliber.
As we've discussed on numerous occasions this season, a big reason for this is that the Kings have an abundance of on-ball creation (something that DeRozan excels at). What the team needs is more size, shooting, and rim protection (all areas where DeRozan is relatively weak in).
Do you remember how we said the Kings gave away relatively little in the deal for DeRozan? The most prominent player they sent out for DeRozan was Harrison Barnes. And while Barnes has his own limitations as a player, one could argue that he has been a pretty similar player impact-wise to DeRozan.
On the season, DeRozan is in the 89th percentile in Offensive Estimated Plus-Minus (per Dunks & Threes). Meanwhile, Barnes is in the 87th percentile. On top of that, Barnes has the exact same on/off plus-minus per 100 as DeRozan (+1.6 per 100).
If you really get into it, DeRozan is still the better player. But definitely not better enough to warrant trading Barnes along with a future 2031 first round pick swap and then signing DeRozan to a larger contract than Barnes was on.
At the end of the day, hindsight is 20/20. When the deal happened, I was among the many people who thought DeRozan could help make the Kings a frisky team in the Western Conference. But still, it is clear now that the DeRozan trade wasn't as much of a sure thing as we originally thought.