Kent Bazemore Getting Interest From NBA Contenders

Kent Bazemore has been shown a lot of interest by multiple teams who were in the NBA bubble, including some contenders, a league source told me on Monday.

The athletic veteran is a good locker room presence and a player who could help a team contend. Last season, Bazemore played for the Portland Trail Blazers before being traded to the Sacramento Kings on January 18th. In his 8th NBA season, the 6’4″ forward averaged 8.8 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game.

Upon being traded to the Sacramento Kings, he helped lead a remarkable turnaround that led to them making the NBA’s Disney World Bubble. After falling deep out of the playoff race early in the season, the Kings turned their year around just a week after trading for Bazemore. The Kings went 9-4 from January 24th to February 25th. As a whole, they also went 10-8 after the All-Star break.

Even as he has aged, Bazemore is still one of the best defenders in the entire NBA. Last season, his D-PIPM (Defensive Player Impact Plus-Minus), ranked in the NBA’s 92nd percentile, defensive RAPTOR was in the 88th percentile and the 86th percentile in DRPM (Defense Real Plus-Minus).

At 31-years-old, he is a veteran that is proven to help teams win. There is strong reason to believe that he can help a team get to its next step next season in the form of veteran leadership, elite defense and the potential for scoring outbursts when needed.