Hawks small forward Kent Bazemore rejected the Lakers’ four-year, $72MM contract offer this summer in part because the Lakers declined his $1.1MM qualifying offer in 2014, Mark Medina of the Orange County Register reports. Bazemore re-signed with the Hawks on a four-year, $70MM deal. After the Lakers sent him packing two years ago, he agreed to a two-year, $6MM contract with Atlanta, then emerged as a starter last season. “One thing you want in this league is to be wanted. They didn’t pick it up for that little amount of money,” Bazemore told Medina. “So that showed how much they believed in me and my abilities. That closed that chapter.”
In other developments regarding the Pacific Division:
- The Kings have become a two-man show offensively, Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee notes. DeMarcus Cousins is averaging 26.8 points and Rudy Gay is scoring at a 23.8 clip. Arron Afflalo is the next highest at 9.4, though the Kings tried to get him the ball more often in their last game. “Those are our two main guys,” Affalo told Jones. “That’s the way it’s set up right now for those guys to establish themselves on the offensive end. Guys have got to figure out how to pick their spots.”
- The Clippers have been surprisingly inefficient in the early going offensively and Chris Paul says the starting unit is to blame, Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times reports. The Clippers rank 24th in field-goal percentage and have only exceeded 41% once in four games. “In actuality, our second unit offense has been really good,” the All-Star point guard told Turner. “Our [first] unit, the one that’s usually clicking on all cylinders, I know that that can be fixed. So that’s why I’m optimistic. I’m actually more excited about our defense and how well we’ve been playing defense.”
- Suns center Alex Len is setting up in the low post more often and that decision is paying dividends, Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic notes. Len had 18 points in 21 minutes off the bench against the Trail Blazers, mainly by staying in the paint. “Alex Len perfected simplicities of the game,” coach Earl Watson told Coro. “He kept it simple, and his numbers were better.”
Bazemore shouldn’t act so upset over the Lakers not picking up his option. The Lakers were the ones that actually gave him his first real chance at actually playing in the league which allowed him to show what kind of talent he had. Before the Lakers I believe he played for the Warriors but never got off the bench unless it was garbage time. If it wasn’t for the Lakers giving him a shot he’d probably still be a bench warmer somewhere getting the minimum instead of that fat $70 million he got from Atlanta!
That’s true but like he said, them not picking up his option showed they didn’t believe in him. The Hawks gave him his first shot at meaningful minutes and he seems grateful to them for that.
Actually the Lakers gave him his first shot at meaningful minutes that’s why he was able to get his first contract from the Hawks. The games he played in may have been meaningless because of the Lakers record at the time but they did allow him to showcase his abilities like never before since he had previously been glued to Golden States bench. I’m actually glad he passed up the Lakers offer because he hasn’t done jack since he signed the big offer from the Hawks.
They might have given him a first shot but they didn’t believe in him after it. They were just done with him and wouldn’t even pay him 1.1 million. The hawks developed him and worked with him and didn’t give up. That’s why bazemore has stuff against the Lakers.