Written by Sam Hughes (Sports Writer)
Entering his eleventh season in the NBA, small forward DeMar DeRozan has used his player option for the upcoming NBA season and will stay with the San Antonio Spurs. He is one of seven players in the NBA to average at least 20 points per game in every one of the past seven seasons he’s played. Some of the other players are LeBron James, Stephen Curry, and James Harden. He averages six points every game from mid-range shots over the past five seasons he’s played, placing third in the NBA for that. He spent the first nine seasons playing in the NBA with the Toronto Raptors before he was traded to the Spurs in the 2018-19 season.
The Houston Rockets have agreed to trade Robert Covington to the Portland Trail Blazers in exchange for Trevor Ariza. The trade won’t be done until after the draft is finished because the NBA made it illegal to trade first-round picks in back-to-back years. Instead of trading the 2020 pick, the Trail Blazers will select the one player the Rockets want on Wednesday, and whichever player that is will have his draft rights will be included in the deal. Covington will be a good fit for the Trail Blazers. They had lacked “wing depth” of last season after Al-Farouq Aminu and Moe Harkless left the team.
Houston Rockets guard James Harden has said that he’s only focused on a trade to the Brooklyn Nets. So far, Houston and Brooklyn have been in contact but haven’t made any deals yet. Harden says he thinks he can no longer win a championship with Houston, and he thinks making a better team with the Nets will help him get a championship win. James Harden can also become a free agent in 2022 if he doesn’t go through with the final year of his contract.
The Milwaukee Bucks are making a trade that will give them Jrue Holiday from the New Orleans Pelicans in exchange for Eric Bledsoe and George Hill. Jrue Holiday will make the backcourt playing much better for Milwaukee, which they lacked when they were defeated by the Miami Heat in the last championships. Milwaukee had also signed a deal with the Sacramento Kings to get Bogdan Bogdanovic. He is coming off a career where he averaged 15.1 points from 3-point range for the Kings. THe was drafted by the Phoenix Suns in 2014, but he had continued playing overseas because he is Serbian. The Suns traded him in 2016 to the Sacramento Kings, and he signed with them in 2017.
Chicago Bulls forward Otto Porter Jr. has the ability to use his player option for 2020-21, and recently a Yahoo Sports reporter reported that he has opted in for this upcoming season. Otto Porter lost the 2019-2020 season with Chicago. He had injured his foot nine games in and missed about four months of playing with them. He returned to play in five more games before the season ended in March. He averaged 11.9 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 1.8 assists.
The Chicago Bulls reportedly will not extend an offer to guard Kris Dunn, making him an unrestricted free agent. He was drafted in 2016 by the Minnesota Timberwolves, and after spending his first season with them, he was traded to the Chicago Bulls, where he spent the last three seasons playing in the NBA. Although he hasn’t lived up to the expectations the team had for him, he has become one of the best defenders in the entire NBA.
The Claw 