DeMar DeRozan's New Role as a Sixth Man in Denver

DeMar DeRozan has spent a career walking into hostile arenas as the focal point of a game plan. Now, for the first time since he was a rookie in Toronto, he’s being asked to walk into something very different: a second unit.

Denver’s offseason hurt in places. Tim Hardaway Jr. is gone. Peyton Watson, the live-wire wing they’d groomed, is in Cleveland. For a contender built on continuity, those are not small exits. The Nuggets needed someone who could steady a bench that too often wobbled whenever Nikola Jokic sat.

They went and found a six-time All-Star.

A Star in a New Role

At 37, DeRozan arrives in Denver with a résumé that doesn’t usually come attached to a bench role. He has started 1,199 consecutive regular-season games. That’s not just a streak; that’s an identity. Breaking it is a statement from both player and team.

The fit won’t be perfect. It never was going to be. DeRozan doesn’t stretch the floor from three, and he’s never been confused for a stopper on the wing. But Denver isn’t asking him to be something he’s not. They’re asking him to do what he’s done for more than a decade: organize an offense, get to his spots, and score when possessions stall.

He did exactly that last season in Sacramento, averaging 18.4 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 4.1 assists in 31.2 minutes per game. Those are not the numbers of a fading star clinging to relevance. Those are the numbers of a player who can still tilt a game.

The difference now is when he’ll be doing it.

Sixth Man Stakes

FanDuel Sportsbook has already weighed in on how this experiment might look. DeRozan sits fifth in the early 2026-27 NBA Sixth Man of the Year odds at +1800 (18/1). Ahead of him: Ajay Mitchell of the Oklahoma City Thunder at +500, Dylan Harper of the San Antonio Spurs at +700, and a pair at +1500 in Anfernee Simons (Philadelphia 76ers) and Ayo Dosunmu (Minnesota Timberwolves).

Those names tell you plenty. This is usually a young man’s award, or at least one built around guards in their physical prime, bombing away and piling up counting stats in big bench minutes. DeRozan is walking into that race with a different profile and, likely, fewer minutes.

Most Sixth Man winners live in the 23-to-32-minute range. DeRozan hit the top of that window last season. In Denver, he almost certainly won’t. With Jokic, Jamal Murray, and Michael Porter Jr. soaking up heavy starter minutes, it would be a surprise if DeRozan regularly climbed beyond 26–28 minutes a night.

That’s the tension in his candidacy. Less time, but more control.

Owning the Second Unit

Denver’s pitch to DeRozan is simple: you won’t start, but when you’re out there, the offense is yours.

He’ll be the primary ball-handler with the bench group, the first option, the pressure valve when the Nuggets’ motion stalls. His mid-range game remains one of the most polished in the league, and he’s only become more precise with age at carving out space and living in that 15-foot pocket.

There will be nights when that matters even more. Michael Malone has never been shy about closing games with the hot hand or the right matchup. If Denver needs an extra creator late, DeRozan will be on the floor, not watching from the sideline. His recent history backs that up: he’s finished top-three in Clutch Player of the Year voting in two of the last four seasons. When the game slows and every possession turns into a half-court puzzle, he still solves it as well as almost anyone.

That’s the kind of profile that keeps you in every awards conversation, even with a reduced role.

Chasing History at 37

If DeRozan does manage to win Sixth Man of the Year, he won’t just be adding another line to his career summary. He’d be rewriting a piece of league history.

The oldest player ever to claim the award is Jamal Crawford, who did it at 36 in the 2015-16 season. DeRozan would be 37. Older, yes, but stepping into a role that might suit this stage of his career perfectly: fewer miles per night, more responsibility per touch.

He’s not coming to Denver to be a third or fourth option standing in the corner while Jokic orchestrates. He’s coming to be the engine of the minutes that so often decide playoff series—the stretches when stars sit, leads evaporate, and seasons swing.

For the Nuggets, that’s the bet: that DeRozan’s scoring and playmaking can stabilize, even elevate, those units. For DeRozan, it’s a different kind of bet: that he can transform from perennial starter and franchise centerpiece into the league’s most dangerous reserve.

The odds say he’s an outsider. The role says he’ll have every chance to change that.