DeMar DeRozan's New Role: Sixth Man of the Year Contender
DeMar DeRozan has spent a career walking into arenas as the guy. Starter. Closer. Focal point. Now, for the first time since his rookie year in Toronto, he’s being asked to do something completely different in Denver.
Come off the bench. Change the rhythm of games, not set it from the opening tip.
For a 37-year-old, that sounds like a demotion on paper. In reality, it might be the role that keeps him at the center of an NBA awards race.
From Watson’s Exit to DeRozan’s Bet
The Nuggets’ offseason began with subtraction. Tim Hardaway Jr. gone. Peyton Watson, the energetic wing they’d groomed as a key rotation piece, off to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Depth took a hit. So did their perimeter defense.
Then came the counterpunch: DeMar DeRozan, six-time All-Star, signed to anchor a second unit that suddenly had a new identity.
He isn’t Watson. He won’t plug every defensive leak or stretch the floor from deep. But he brings something Denver’s bench badly needed—structure, shot creation, and a player who can run an offense when Nikola Jokic sits.
Oddsmakers have already taken notice. FanDuel Sportsbook lists DeRozan as the fifth choice for the 2026-27 NBA Sixth Man of the Year award at +1800 (18/1). The early board:
- Ajay Mitchell, OKC Thunder (+500)
- Dylan Harper, San Antonio Spurs (+700)
- Anfernee Simons, Philadelphia 76ers (+1500)
- Ayo Dosunmu, Minnesota Timberwolves (+1500)
- DeMar DeRozan, Denver Nuggets (+1800)
He’s not the favorite. He doesn’t need to be. He just needs the right role and enough minutes.
A Starter’s Mindset in a Reserve’s Jersey
This isn’t some career-long bench scorer sliding into a familiar lane. DeRozan has started 1,199 consecutive regular-season games. That’s not a streak, it’s an identity.
Now he’s stepping into the second unit for the first time since 2009-10.
The adjustment will be real. New rotation patterns. Different matchups. Fewer minutes. But the job description is clear: run the bench, steady the offense, and close when the game demands it.
In Sacramento last season, DeRozan still looked like a primary option. He averaged 18.4 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 4.1 assists in 31.2 minutes per game. Those are not “wind-down-the-career” numbers. Those are “still a problem” numbers.
Sixth Man of the Year winners typically live in the 23-to-32-minute range. DeRozan likely lands at the lower end in Denver. Something like 26–28 minutes feels realistic on a team with Jokic and Jamal Murray commanding the bulk of the offense.
That might be enough.
Chasing History at 37
If DeRozan wins the award, he won’t just be adding another line to his résumé. He would become the oldest Sixth Man of the Year in league history, surpassing Jamal Crawford, who won it at 36 in the 2015-16 season.
That context matters. DeRozan isn’t just fighting younger legs; he’s accepting a smaller role on a contender and trying to turn it into something historic.
He won’t have the ball as much as he did in Sacramento. He won’t sniff 30-plus minutes most nights. But Denver isn’t asking him to carry them. They’re asking him to stabilize and punish.
Give him 26 efficient minutes, the ball in his hands against second units, and the freedom to live in his mid-range office, and he’ll have a real shot to hang around the 6MOY conversation all season.
The Known Weakness, the Trusted Strength
The scouting report on DeRozan hasn’t changed. Teams will dare him from three. They’ll test him defensively. Those questions will follow him into Denver’s rotation.
But the Nuggets didn’t sign him to be a 3-and-D wing. They signed him to be a problem with the ball.
He remains one of the league’s purest mid-range scorers, a master of pace and footwork who still gets to his spots when everyone in the building knows what’s coming. He can run pick-and-roll, create late-clock looks, and get to the line. That matters even more when Jokic is on the bench and the offense risks stalling.
He’ll be Denver’s primary ball-handler with the second unit. Their go-to scorer. And on nights when the game tightens and they need another creator, he’ll close alongside the starters.
His recent track record in big moments backs that up. DeRozan has finished top-three in Clutch Player of the Year voting in two of the last four seasons. That’s not reputation. That’s recent history.
The Perfect Stage for a Late-Career Twist
On a different team, DeRozan might have been asked to fade into a third or fourth option in the starting lineup, orbiting around younger stars and spacing the floor in ways that don’t suit his game.
Denver is offering something else: control of the second-unit offense, the green light to be the guy when Jokic rests, and the chance to tilt games from the bench instead of from the opening tip.
That’s why his Sixth Man odds matter. Not because he’s the favorite in September, but because his role is built for relevance.
The Nuggets lost pieces this summer. They also handed DeMar DeRozan a new script—one that could end with him holding a trophy that’s eluded him his entire career, at an age when most scorers have already exited the spotlight.
