NEWSLETTER
Year 14 is one DeMar DeRozan will never forget.
The Chicago Bulls veteran is set to make NBA history on Monday night when he steps on the United Center floor. The meeting with Atlanta will mark his 1,000 NBA game, making him just the 143rd player in league history to reach that mark.
DeRozan will join a prestigious club of just nine active players who have recorded 1,000 career games, and he will be the youngest of the bunch. The achievement also comes just a few months after the five-time All-Star become just the 50th player in NBA history to cross the 20,000-point threshold.
Few players have been the epitome of reliable since coming into the NBA. DeRozan has played 74 or more games in nine of his 14 seasons thus far. Since his rookie campaign in 2009-10, no player has appeared in more professional basketball games than DeRozan, per Statmuse (which is some news that shocked him h/t Will Gottlieb).
While tonight’s game will only mark his 119th game in Chicago, there might be no better place for DeMar DeRozan to join NBA history. After many doubted whether or not he was still among the NBA’s elite playmakers, he put together the best season of his career with Chicago in 2021-22. He’s now re-established himself as one of the league’s most dynamic and clutch scores, and tonight will only serve as yet another reminder of how special his career has been.
