Kings star DeMar DeRozan led the NBA’s rotation players with 34.3 percent of his 22.2 points per game coming from the mid-range during the 2024-25 season. That is no surprise to anyone who has watched him throughout his previous 16 campaigns.
DeRozan revealed how he learned to perfect his mid-range game in appearing on retired NBA icon and fellow mid-range maestro Carmelo Anthony’s “7 PM in Brooklyn” podcast on Thursday.
“It started out with me just being a student first,” DeRozan said. “I had the luxury at 16, 17 years old, to work with Kobe [Bryant]. I had that cheat code to really just sit there and lock in, listen to him, really break down details and small movements and learning how to play in a phone booth and get your shot off. I learned that early on.”
DeRozan, a native of Compton in Los Angeles County, had every up-and-coming hooper’s dream teacher to study under to perfect the art of the mid-range. And if you’ve watched DeRozan’s game, you’d know that his style is very reminiscent of the late great, with great emphasis on footwork and poise in contested spaces.
But DeRozan’s younger lessons didn’t stop at studying under Bryant. They spanned idolizing several classic NBA names, some of which he listed off the top of his head on Anthony’s podcast.
“I was just a student of how guys were able to create space, get their shots off — whether you were small or big,” DeRozan said. “I remember talking to Sam Cassell when I was 15. He used to show me the bump, shot fake [into] over right-shoulder fadeaway; he showed me all of that. Cuttino Mobley — how one dribble, hesitating, pulling up; I paid attention. Even Andre Miller, he wasn’t athletic at all, but he had the hesi in there, getting to the basket, getting his shot off.
“I paid attention to guys like that. So now, when I incorporate that into being 6’6” [or] 6’7”, athletic, this … now I got a little bit more of a cheat code, if they’re able to do that with lack of size, athleticism, whatever it may be. And I just try to incorporate that. I’ve done that with everything. My first year in the league, I had Alex English as an assistant coach. I used to sit with him all the time and [ask], ‘Yo, how do you do this?’ He had that one-dribble pull-up; you couldn’t block it, every time.”
Cassell. Mobley. Miller. English.
DeRozan was spoiled with mentors early in his career. Though he concluded his answer by explaining how Bryant helped him lay the groundwork for what became a career of mid-range excellence.
“Me being a student and having a cheat code of being able to work with my idol when it comes to basketball, it just made me pay attention to even more detail in a way,” DeRozan concluded.
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