Now in his 16th NBA season, DeMar DeRozan has put the ball in the basket quite frequently throughout his career. He has put up his fair share of scoring whether he has been with the Toronto Raptors, San Antonio Spurs, Chicago Bulls, or now with the Sacramento Kings. A six-time All-Star, DeMar DeRozan has now entered the top-25 of the career NBA scoring list.
DeMar DeRozan Is Now In The Top-25 Of The Career Scoring List
DeRozan Passes Reggie Miller On All-Time Scoring List
On Friday, the Kings fell to the Los Angeles Clippers by the score of 101-100. Unfortunately, a prayer of a three-point attempt at the buzzer was off by DeRozan, giving LA the close win. In the defeat, the 35-year-old DeRozan totaled 16 points. That now gives him 25,284 points for his career. He is now in the top-25 of career scorers in NBA history. Friday’s performance allowed him to surpass Reggie Miller’s 25,279 points and is now 25th on the all-time scoring list.
In his 76 outings during his first season with Sacramento, DeRozan is averaging 22.4 points. It is the 12th straight season in which the 6-foot-6 forward has averaged more than 20 points per contest. His career-best came in 2021-22 when DeRozan averaged 27.6 while with the Bulls.
This season, DeRozan has scored 1,702 points for the Kings. He previously surpassed Charles Barkley, Allen Iverson, Ray Allen, Patrick Ewing, and Jerry West on the all-time scoring list this year.
Can He Reach 30K Career Points?
In the history of the NBA, there have only been eight players to reach 30,000 career points. They are certainly all household names even to causal fans: LeBron James, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Dirk Nowitzki, Wilt Chamberlain, and Kevin Durant. Active players James Harden and Stephen Curry are still productive, ahead of DeRozan in career points, and may reach 30,000 points as well. Still, there’s a chance that DeRozan can also join this very exclusive list.
He has two years remaining after this season on his current contract. That deal will take DeRozan through his age-37 year. He is currently 4,716 points away from 30,000 for his career with one game remaining this year. It will take good health, which DeRozan has exhibited for much of his career, and another contract for him to reach that historic number.
While very few consider DeRozan to be one of the game’s all-time elite scorers, he will be high up the career list once his playing days are over. Consistently scoring 20+ a night for over a decade and never playing less than 60 games in a season as DeRozan has done has helped him fly up the scoring leaderboard.
Over 1,186 career regular season games in 16 years, DeRozan has averaged 21.3 points per outing. Four different seasons, he has finished in the top-10 for the year in scoring average. His productivity over such a long time will surely see him earn a selection to the Basketball Hall of Fame once his career is over, and he is eligible to be enshrined.
Photo credit: © Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
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