Despite Heavy Lakers Links, DeMar DeRozan Reveals He Almost Joined Kawhi Leonard and Paul George at Clippers

Published 03/09/2022, 10:41 PM EST

The story of DeMar DeRozan almost joining the Los Angeles Lakers is well documented. DeRozan was very close to joining the Lakers in free agency, but they ultimately decided to acquire Russell Westbrook via a massive trade. He then joined the Chicago Bulls, and the rest is history.

DeRozan has transformed the Bulls into title contenders, and the Lakers have struggled with Westbrook. He has put on a show this season and is one of the top contenders for the MVP award. The Lakers will be regretting not signing DeRozan, especially now when they are barely even in the playoff spot. But little did we know that DeRozan was very close to joining their inner-city rivals, the Los Angeles Clippers. DeRozan revealed that he was even was in conversation with Paul George.

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DeMar DeRozan says he was very close to joining the Clippers

DeRozan was recently on Serge Ibaka’s show “How Hungry Are You?”. He talked about his free agency and how he ended up joining the Bulls. Ibaka also asked DeMar about the Clippers meeting, which got canceled.

DeMar DeRozan says joining the Clippers was a serious possibility:
"It could've been a day earlier, it would've worked. It really was a real possibility. I talked with Paul George about it, we was really trying to figure it out to make it happen. No bullshit.”
(via @sergeibaka) pic.twitter.com/qHVB4KyCix
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) March 9, 2022

Replying to Ibaka’s question, DeMar said, ” Nothing but respect to Lawrence Frank and the Clippers organization. Great people. It definitely was a opportunity that presented itself. I think was for the Chicago thing took off by the time they was on the way to my house”

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“It could’ve been a day earlier, it would’ve worked… It really was a real possibility…I talked with Paul George about it, we was really trying to figure it out to make it happen. No bulls**t.”

Ibaka was disappointed that DeMar didn’t join the Clippers, as he could have played with him again. But the Bulls came in and sealed the deal, which led to DeMar canceling the meeting.

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The Clippers who have been dealing with injuries to both stars, Paul George and Kawhi Leonard, could have benefitted massively with DeRozan in the lineup. But DeRozan went to the Bulls, and he has been dominating there. He will look to continue his run as the Bulls look to win their first title since 1998.

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Written by:

Vishwesha Kumar is an NBA writer at EssentiallySports. Holder of a Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, Vishwesha has been writing content for about 3 years now. He has been following the NBA for nearly 10 years, since first starting off in the year 2012.

Despite Heavy Lakers Links, DeMar DeRozan Reveals He Almost Joined Kawhi Leonard and Paul George at Clippers

DeMar DeRozan says he was very close to joining the Clippers

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