As we noted in our story on Friday, free agent forward DeMar DeRozan was linked to a wide variety of teams before deciding to join the Nuggets on a one-year, minimum-salary contract.

According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, DeRozan spoke to the Heat, Wizards and Pelicans prior to reaching an agreement with Denver.

While Miami and DeRozan had “mutual interest,” per Charania, and Bam Adebayo recruited the six-time All-Star for several weeks, the Heat were focused throughout the summer on adding Klay Thompson and are expected to sign the veteran sharpshooter after he agreed to a buyout with Dallas.

DeRozan is expected to have a “significant role” with the Nuggets, Charania writes, and chose Denver because he wanted to join a perennial playoff team following a sustained recruitment effort from the team’s front office and coaches.

The Nuggets have been eyeing the 37-year-old wing for several months, sources tell Bennett Durando of The Denver Post, as the team would have been interested in signing DeRozan if he had been bought out by Sacramento in February. However, he didn’t hit the open market until July, when the Kings waived his partially guaranteed contract.

NBA insider Chris Haynes, who broke the initial news, said Nikola Jokic, Aaron Gordon and Jamal Murray all played a role in recruiting DeRozan to Denver. A source close to DeRozan tells Durando that Gordon and assistant coach Jared Dudley, in particular, were important parts of the recruiting process.

That same source tells Durando that DeRozan was focused on the Nuggets, Heat, Pistons and Cavaliers during free agency, ultimately choosing Denver because he was impressed by the team’s pitch and his potential fit on the club that won its first championship three years ago.

As Durano writes, the Nuggets had been looking for more “ball-handling and shot creation” this summer to complement Jokic and Murray. The desire to add another play-maker intensified when the Nuggets decided not to retain restricted free agent Peyton Watson, who landed a four-year, $88MM deal from Cleveland on Thursday via sign-and-trade.

Durando suggests DeRozan may have had more lucrative offers on the table than the $3.88MM he received from the Nuggets, who will carry a $2.45MM cap hit.