In his ninth season in the league with the Toronto Raptors, DeMar DeRozan has established himself as one of the premier scorers in the league.
His latest 30-point performances in a tough 127-125 loss at home to the Golden State Warriors pushed him ahead of Vince Carter for the all-time mark in franchise history, according to Josh Lewenberg of TSN Sports.
This is DeMar DeRozan's 92nd career 30+ point game, which passes Vince Carter for most in Raptors history. Note: Coming into tonight, the Raps had won 21 straight games in which DeRozan goes for 30.
— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) January 14, 2018
This was his 12th 30-point outing of the season and 21st overall with at least 20 points. The 28-year-old has been a highly productive offensive talent over the last several seasons averaging 20 or points in each of the last five years. He is coming off his best campaign where he averaged a career-best 27.3 points per game.
Entering Saturday's game, DeRozan was averaging 25.0 points per game on 47.9 percent shooting from the field and a career-high 37.2 percent shooting from the 3-point line. He isn't too far removed from his earning the Eastern Conference Player of the Week for the third time in his career after averaging an NBA-best 35.7 points while shooting 55.7 percent from the field and 55 percent from three-point range along with 6.0 assists and 4.3 rebounds during three games last week. This includes posting a franchise-best 52 points against the Milwaukee Bucks back on New Years Day.
With Kyle Lowry taking a step back offensively, DeRozan has shoulder more of that load and has looked comfortable in that role. He's putting together arguably his most efficient scoring campaign of his career. That was evident on Saturday night as he scored a game-high 42 points on 17-of-31 shooting while knocking down eight of his 10 free throw attempts in the contest against the top team in the league.
The fact that he has been able to pass that prestigious record not only shows the unique scoring ability but also how special of an offensive talent that Carter was during his 6 1/2 seasons with the Raptors. With DeRozan in the midst of the prime of his career, he could completely surpass that mark and have several other franchise marks to his name.
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