By admin 
DeMar DeRozan has been a picture of scoring efficiency, excellence and durability throughout his decorated 17-year NBA career. Picked ninth overall way back in the 2009 NBA Draft, the 6’6″ shooting guard from Compton hasn’t lost a step, as he continues to showcase his deadly midrange game and penchant for drawing fouls to get easy points at the charity stripe.
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Now 36, Deebo hopes to finish his career on a strong note after suffering through two losing seasons with the Sacramento Kings. But regardless of where his next chapter takes him, he’ll be hard-pressed to replicate his incredible showing for the Chicago Bulls during the 2021-22 season.
After ending his three-year stint with the San Antonio Spurs, DeRozan moved to the Windy City and ignited a revival. Teaming up with Zach LaVine, Nikola Vucevic and a pre-injury Lonzo Ball, the Bulls looked like a legitimate team once again as they posted a 46-36 record, which remains their best season since the 2014-15 season.
At the helm of that surge was DeRozan, who, at one point, had an unstoppable eight-game run in which he averaged an astounding 38.4 points per game. In fact, he claims that his performances were so out of this world that the NBA did a drug test on him.
Nobody could check him
Deebo’s white-hot run began with a 45-point explosion against the Philadelphia 76ers, which he followed up with a 38-point outing against the Phoenix Suns. For the next six games, all of which were Bulls wins, DeMar just kept pouring bucket after bucket, much to the dismay of opposing defenses.
When the dust settled, DeMar averaged 38.4 points on a hyper-efficient 61.2 percent shooting clip, including an astounding 46.2 percent from beyond the arc. He laced his scoring numbers with 5.8 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game. But what the former USC ace remembers most from that torrid run was how the league suddenly conducted a “random” drug test on him.
“They tested me. I’m like, it was wild, bro,” DeRozan
The development was reminiscent of what happened to “3-and-D” wingman Corey Brewer, who was also subjected to a random drug test after he put up 51 points for the Minnesota Timberwolves in a win over the Houston Rockets in April 2014.
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DeRozan embraced his role as the Bulls’ main man
Although DeRozan had played starring roles in Toronto and San Antonio, he shared that the vibe felt different during that season in Chicago, as the team looked to him to bail them out every time they found themselves in a tight spot.
“It was just like I really embraced that aura, bro. Of just being there, dog,” Deebo remarked. “It was times, like, we had this whole thing as a team. And I got to credit a lot of s-t to my teammates, too, putting the battery in my back too. Because you used to hear teammates be like, ‘Let’s just get it close. Deebo got us from here.'”
“It used to be in timeouts to where it’s like, if it’s a one-possession game, I knew, like, just get the ball. Get the f-k out of it, bro. Just keep it here,” he added. “So, I just used to embrace those moments and not wanting to let my teammates down and just always wanted that moment.”
It remains uncertain where DeRozan will play next, but it’s clear that he still has a lot of gas left in his tank. Given the right team, there’s nothing he would like more than to get a chance to compete for the championship, an opportunity he hasn’t had in his entire career.
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This story was originally published August 11, 2026 at 10:28 AM.