DeMar DeRozan departed the NBA bubble in Orlando with plans to resume life as it was before the league restarted its season last month.
It is not as glamorous as it sounds.
“Sit at the house. Wear a mask,” DeRozan said after a loss to Utah on a Thursday afternoon that saw the end of both the Spurs’ season and a remarkable playoff streak. “Kind of do what you were doing before this thing.”
Whether the NBA returns to some level of normalcy next season is largely up to the COVID-19 virus. Whether DeRozan returns to the Spurs is largely up to him.
DeRozan, 31, has an option worth $27.7 million next season. The four-time All-Star has said he has not made a decision on whether to exercise it or become an unrestricted free agent this offseason.
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“I have no clue,” DeRozan said.
Events since mid-March seem to make it more likely DeRozan will be back for a third season in San Antonio.
The coronavirus pandemic and resulting four-month NBA hiatus is certain to create a drag on the salary cap. That means less money available to teams shopping the free agent market.
On the floor in Orlando, DeRozan — whose mid-range heavy game has been considered a relic of the NBA past — showed he could still thrive around the young core that comprises the Spurs’ future.
Talking about DeRozan since the NBA resumed play, coach Gregg Popovich — who left the door ajar to returning for a 24th season on the Spurs’ bench himself — sounded like a man who would welcome his leading scorer back with open arms.
“He’s been a great mentor for these young kids and brought them along, to the point he’s enjoying the heck out of them and playing at a pace he hasn’t played with before,” Popovich said. “They’ve been infectious to him.”
In seven games in the Orlando bubble, DeRozan averaged a team-best 21.7 points and 5.7 assists, while shooting 58.1 percent. Over the first six games, DeRozan’s 62 fourth-quarter points were tops of the NBA restart.
DeRozan dominated at times in the restart seeding games, which saw the Spurs play faster and looser — and well — en route to 5-3 finish that left them just out of the Western Conference play-in.
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He did so in a way that did not impeded the progress of the Spurs’ younger guards — 26-year-old Derrick White, 23-year-old Dejounte Murray, 21-year-old Lonnie Walker IV and 20-year-old Keldon Johnson.
“I am at a point where I work my butt off and at the same time I want to see these young guys thrive and learn as much as possible,” DeRozan said. “They will be in my position someday and be able to give the understanding of the game to someone else.”
Having seen the franchise’s 22-year playoff streak snapped, the Spurs will almost immediately get to work on starting a new one.
DeRozan’s place on next season’s roster is only one piece of business that will point the way forward. How to retrofit the Spurs’ other All-Star into the team’s new order is another.
LaMarcus Aldridge did not make the trip to Orlando while recovering from shoulder surgery. The seven-time All-Star might not recognize the team he rejoins for training camp.
Once the team reconvenes — possibly in November — the task will be to mesh Aldridge’s slower-paced post-up game with the modernized approach the Spurs unlocked in Orlando.
“LaMarcus is a dominant player in today’s league,” DeRozan said. “He has shown it over and over. It’s kind of a great feeling going into it, understanding once we are healthy what we could really be.”
Aldridge, 35, is under contract for $24 million next season, the last of his current deal. Aldridge averaged 18.9 points and 7.4 rebounds before his fifth season with the Spurs ended prematurely. He shot 49.3 percent, falling below the 50 percent threshold for only the second time since coming to San Antonio.
In attempt to help the Spurs space the floor, Aldridge tried a career-high 167 3-pointers last season and made 61.
It is this development that has some Spurs hopeful Aldridge’s return to the lineup next season will be a compliment and not a detriment to the style the team played in Orlando.
“L.A. has been in the league for a while and he knows how to play,” White said. “I know he’s been watching back in San Antonio and seeing how we’re doing. Next year is going to be different, so who knows?”
The most pressing offseason decision that is in the Spurs’ control involves 24-year-old center Jakob Poeltl, who supplied the rebounding and rim-defending to the Spurs’ new-look starting five with Aldridge out.
Poeltl is set to become a restricted free agent, meaning the Spurs can match outside offers.
Shooting guard Bryn Forbes and Marco Belinelli will be unrestricted free agents. The 27-year-old Forbes started 143 games the past two seasons, but might be expendable in the Spurs’ new-look backcourt configuration.
Belinelli, 34, is unlikely to be resigned.
The Spurs are expected to pick up a $5.5 million team option on Trey Lyles, who started 53 games in the front court. For the first time since 1997, the Spurs will enter this year’s draft armed with a lottery pick.
When the drawing results are announced Thursday, the Spurs have a 77.6 percent chance of landing the No. 11 slot.
They have a 9.4 percent chance of jumping into the top 4, with a 2 percent chance of winning the No. 1 overall selection. Whatever tweaks are made to the roster next season, the Spurs are hopeful the team’s reinvention in Orlando will provide a jumping off point for next season.
“Just to come in here and get to play free and try to develop us young guys, I think it was a positive,” Murray said. “We got to go out and build something.”
The Spurs believe they might have planted the seeds for something great in Orlando.
What happens over the next few months will go a long way toward deciding the direction it grows.
jmcdonald@express-news.net
Twitter: @JMcDonald_SAEN
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