Bulls acquire DeRozan in sign-and-trade, agree to three-year deal

Free agent wing DeMar DeRozan is expected to sign a three-year, $85M contract with the Bulls, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (

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).

According to Charania, the Bulls and Spurs are finalizing a sign-and-trade deal that will send DeRozan to Chicago in exchange for Thaddeus Young, a future first-round pick and two second-round picks. Al-Farouq Aminu will go to San Antonio in the deal too, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (

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).

Wojnarowski also provides the details on the draft picks headed to the Spurs, reporting (

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) that the future first-round pick will convey in 2025 at the earliest, since the Bulls owe their 2023 first-rounder to Orlando. The second-rounders Chicago is sending to San Antonio are the Lakers’ 2022 pick and the Bulls’ own 2025 pick, Woj adds.

Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (

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), who first reported DeRozan was nearing a deal with Chicago, says his three-year deal will be fully guaranteed.

It’s a fascinating turn of events for the Bulls and DeRozan, who had reportedly been planning to meet with the Clippers despite their limited cap flexibility. Because acquiring a player via sign-and-trade hard-caps a team at the tax apron, a sign-and-trade for DeRozan likely wasn’t an option for the Clippers, which project to be taxpayers.

However, the Bulls, which had already agreed to acquire Lonzo Ball via sign-and-trade and had two sizeable – and expendable – expiring contracts belonging to Young and Aminu, were in a far better position to make DeRozan an aggressive offer. They did just that, agreeing to a deal that will add DeRozan to a core that now includes Zach LaVine, Nikola Vucevic and Ball.

While DeRozan’s lack of a three-point shot (he has made 35 in the last three seasons) is an oddity for a wing in the modern NBA, his mid-range game is deadly, and he has become a legitimately dangerous play-maker, averaging a career-best 6.9 assists per game in 2020-21. Opponents will have a tough time stopping lineups featuring him, LaVine and Vucevic, though it won’t be the most stout group defensively.

Based on their reported moves, the Bulls still have about $19.5M in breathing room below the tax and $26M below the hard cap, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks, who notes (

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) that the team still holds Lauri Markkanen‘s Bird rights.

The Spurs, which have free agent deals in place with Zach Collins and Doug McDermott, still have about $6M in projected cap space to work with, Marks adds.