Reports: DeMar DeRozan leaves Bulls to join Kings in a sign-and-trade deal that sends Chris Duarte, a pair of 2nd-round picks to Chicago

(670 The Score) The Bulls’ roster overhaul continued Saturday night, this time by virtue of a star player’s exit.

Forward DeMar DeRozan will leave the Bulls to join the Kings in a three-team sign-and-trade transaction, according to multiple reports. In return, Chicago will receive wing Chris Duarte, two second-round picks and cash, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported. In helping to facilitate the deal, the Spurs landed forward Harrison Barnes and an unprotected 2031 pick swap from the Kings. DeRozan agreed to a three-year deal worth $74 million to join the Kings, Wojnarowski reported.

By Saturday, the 34-year-old DeRozan’s departure from Chicago was no surprise due to the Bulls’ recent pivot toward a youth movement, but it nonetheless was symbolic as the most significant move in the team’s roster teardown.

That’s because of what DeRozan had meant to the Bulls over the past three years since they acquired him in August 2021 in a sign-and-trade with the Spurs. DeRozan earned second-team all-NBA and All-Star honors in 2021-’22 as the Bulls reached the playoffs for the first time in five years, then backed it up with another All-Star campaign in 2022-’23.

DeRozan then averaged 24.0 points, 4.3 rebounds and 5.3 assists while shooting 48% in 79 games this past season, when he was second in the Clutch Player of the Year race. Time and time again in his three seasons in Chicago, DeRozan made big plays and key buckets late in games to lift a middling Bulls team to close wins.

That middling trajectory is also one of the reasons that DeRozan is moving on. The Bulls lost in the play-in round in each of the past two years, and they decided it was time to enact change after going 39-43 this past season. DeRozan’s exit is further evidence the Bulls will take a significant step backward in the upcoming 2024-’25 season, as his big production and reliability was the central force in the team being competitive.

Throughout last season, both DeRozan and Bulls management publicly expressed their desires to reach a contract extension, but that narrative changed in the weeks that followed the end of the regular season. The Bulls decided that running back the same aging roster was no longer viable, and DeRozan still wants to compete. The Bulls’ trade of veteran guard Alex Caruso, an all-defensive player, for 21-year-old point guard Josh Giddey was one of the contributing factors to DeRozan looking elsewhere, according to reports.

In Sacramento, DeRozan will join a team looking to compete at a higher level after it went 46-36 but was eliminated in the play-in tournament this past season. In 2022-’23, the Kings went 48-34 and lost in a seven-game series in the first round of the playoffs.

Duarte, 27, was the 13th overall pick of the Indiana Pacers in the 2021 NBA Draft. He played two seasons in Indiana before being traded to Sacramento. He averaged 3.9 points and 1.8 rebounds in 12.2 minutes across 59 games last season while shooting 38.1% overall and 34.6% from 3-point range.

Duarte's best season was as a rookie in 2021-'22, when he averaged 13.1 points and shot 36.9% from 3-point range. Duarte is currently on a path to hit restricted free agency in summer 2025.