DeMar DeRozan Exercises $27.7M Spurs Contract Option Ahead of Free Agency

San Antonio Spurs guard DeMar DeRozan will return for a third year with the club after he exercised his $27.7 million player option for the 2020-21 season on Monday.  

"I'm back San Antonio!" DeRozan said in a statement. "Looking forward to training camp and building on the high level of play we showed in Orlando."

The 31-year-old averaged 22.1 points, 5.6 assists and 5.5 rebounds for the Spurs last year.

DeRozan arrived in San Antonio after the Toronto Raptors traded him to the Spurs as part of a larger deal that included Kawhi Leonard.

His distribution and ball-handling skills came in handy after point guard Dejounte Murray suffered a torn ACL and missed all of 2018-19. He's also a consistent presence on the court, sitting only 10 regular-season games in the past three seasons.

The guard excelled in year one with the Spurs, averaging 21.2 points, 6.2 assists and 6.0 rebounds for the 48-34 team. San Antonio earned the Western Conference's No. 7 seed and pushed the No. 2 Denver Nuggets to the limit before losing in the first round 4-3 in a seven-game series.

The 2019-20 season did not go well for the Spurs on the whole, to the point where murmurs of a potential trade arose. Of note, Kevin O'Connor of The Ringer wrote on Nov. 13 that "it would surprise none of the front-office executives I've spoken with if the Spurs did move DeRozan."

However, DeRozan is back in San Antonio for at least one more season. He should once again be asked to lead the team's scoring efforts as the Spurs look to regain their winning form from past years.