Spurs, DeMar DeRozan Discussing Extension

The Spurs and star guard DeMar DeRozan are having discussions about a potential contract extension, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic. However, Charania cautions that nothing is imminent.

We heard nearly two months ago that the Spurs value DeRozan enough to keep him around long-term and hadn’t ruled out the possibility of offering him a maximum extension.

In DeRozan’s case, the most he could get on a new deal would be approximately $149MM over four years, starting in 2020/21. That would require him to decline his 2020/21 player option, replacing it with the first year of a new extension, which could be worth up to 120% of his current $27.74MM salary.

DeRozan, a 10-year NBA veteran, turned 30 years old this summer, so investing heavily in his age 31-34 seasons would be a risk for San Antonio. The Spurs haven’t been averse to that sort of deal in the past — two Octobers ago, they signed LaMarcus Aldridge to an extension at age 32. But Aldridge’s new deal only tacked on two years to his existing contract and isn’t fully guaranteed in its final season. The club might want to hedge its bets in a similar manner in its offer to DeRozan.

Of course, given how relatively weak the 2020 free agent class projects to be, DeRozan can reasonably expect to receive a big payday if he opts to reach the open market next July. So an extension offer from San Antonio would have to be lucrative enough to convince him to forgo free agency.

For his part, the four-time All-Star said this week at Media Day that he isn’t spending much time thinking about his contract situation, as Charania relays.

“That’s not on my mind,” DeRozan said. “My focus is to go out there and hoop. How everything will unfold, that’s how it will unfold.”

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