NBA Free Agency Rumors: DeMar DeRozan Will Potentially Meet With Sixers

From one Raptors rumor to another, Bryan Colangelo's Sixers keep popping up around stories involving Toronto's players. The latest from T-Dot comes by way of the Plain Dealer's Chris Haynes, who reports the following list of teams hoping to get DeMar DeRozan in for a meeting:

Toronto granted first meeting with DeMar DeRozan in LA on July 1, sources tell @clevelanddotcom. Miami, Dallas, Philly, Lakers could follow.

— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) June 30, 2016

"Could" is the operative word here; Haynes seems to suggest subsequent meetings for DeRozan would only take place if he doesn't strike a deal with his current team. Being on the short-list that follows is one thing, but the meeting itself is far from a foregone conclusion.

DeRozan represents something of a worst-case scenario if you were building prototypes of Sixers free-agent possibilities. His lack of floor-spacing is a major issue, but more concerning is the way he'd dominate the ball upon his arrival. DeRozan's USG percentage reached nearly 30 on the second-best team in the East last season, and if he were to be convinced to join the rebuilding project in Philadelphia you can bet he wouldn't take a backseat to a young gun like Ben Simmons. Maxing out a wing player who dominates touches and minutes that can't stretch the floor is the worst outcome imaginable.

Even if the meeting is held, this could simply be a favor done to a former player of Colangelo's to help him create contract leverage. That courtesy is something agents remember when opportunities to work together are presented in the future, though DeRozan's agent (Aaron Goodwin) is reportedly not the type of guy seeking to squeeze every penny out for his clients:

Aaron Goodwin - DeRozan's longtime agent - isn't known as a Scott Boras type, who's looking to extract every last dollar and willing to use every conceivable ounce of leverage to do so. When the Raptors were negotiating the four-year extension with DeRozan, Goodwin ultimately put the decision in his client's hands, according to sources, recognizing that in the end it would be the player, not him, who would be living and working under the terms of the deal.

With that in mind, let's hope DeRozan signs the deal in Toronto and gets it over with. The Sixers would not be a good fit for his skill set, so they should settle for being linked to a potential meeting and be satisfied with the free PR.