Sacramento Kings star DeMar DeRozan is one of the older and longest-tenured players in the NBA now, as he’s a 16-year veteran and will turn 36 before the 2025-26 season starts up.
DeRozan is now in a position where guys like Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards are requesting chances to learn from him, but it wasn’t always that way. Just like everybody who’s suited up in the league, DeRozan was an unproven player at one time, and when he needed anything, he could turn to Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant.
The veteran indicated that he’s happy to help out younger players, perhaps in part because he always had Bryant “right there” for him years ago.
“For sure,” DeRozan said when asked if younger players are coming to him for guidance. “For sure. And it’s crazy — it was a game we played in Minnesota this year, and I had a moment when Ant, it was a free throw or something, and he was like, ‘Man, I gotta get in the gym with you, man. You gotta teach me the midrange and the post, post, post.’ And I was like, ‘I got you, dog.’
“But it’s like, you heading down the right direction, you know what I mean? But for you to worry about that that much in that moment and ask me that, it was a full circle moment for me because it was like, for sure. You know what I mean? That’s what it’s all about. It’s just building on the game, and that’s what it’s all about, man. I’m telling you, that’s how I always viewed it, I looked at it.
“Every time I needed Kobe for anything, he was right there for me, you know what I mean? So, for me, that’s what it’s all about. But you got a lot of guys that done reached out within the game, outside of the game that wanted me to work on them…and that mean a lot. You know what I mean? That for sure mean a lot.”
It took some time for DeRozan to truly secure his place as a star in the NBA. After all, he averaged a mere 8.6 points per contest as a first-year player. Furthermore, he didn’t average 20-plus points per game in a season until his fifth NBA campaign, and that season also saw him earn his first All-Star nod.
Then, even after DeRozan found his footing as a strong scorer at the highest level, he had to go through some playoff heartbreaks before he helped the Toronto Raptors deep into the playoffs.
DeRozan’s first two playoff runs were in the 2014 and 2015 NBA Playoffs, and both of those stints ended in the first round for Toronto. He then helped the Raptors enjoy what was their first appearance in the Eastern Conference Finals in franchise history at the time in the 2016 NBA Playoffs.
All these years later, he’s a six-time All-Star and three-time All-NBA selectee. He deserves a lot of credit for his willingness to share his success and give advice and guidance to younger players.
At the same time, folks around the league should be worried about how lethal Edwards could be offensively if he’s able to emulate DeRozan’s game in certain ways. He’s already one of the premier offensive players in the NBA, as he just recently averaged 27.6 points per game on 44.7 percent shooting from the field and 39.5 percent from 3-point range in the 2024-25 regular season.
