As we continue our review of the Atlanta Hawks ’18-’19 roster, let’s take a look at the final remaining player from the Mike Budenholzer era in Kent Bazemore.
Atlanta Hawks guard Kent Bazemore played all four years of his college basketball at Old Dominion, however, he would go undrafted in 2012. Bazemore’s journey to the Atlanta Hawks was quite the story as he had to defy the odds and prove the naysayers wrong.
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After going undrafted in 2012, Bazemore signed with the Golden State Warriors (2012-2014) but spent most of his tenure in what was then the D-League. The next stop for him would be Los Angeles as he was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers for Steve Blake but would sit out the rest of the season due to injury.
In 2014 Bazemore signed with the Atlanta Hawks and the rest was history. The past five seasons for KB have been filled with highs and lows. However, he was a part of the Hawks strong three- year playoff runs. But the last two seasons have been pretty solid considering the fact that the team is still actively trying to trade him.
During the 2018-19 season, Bazemore struggled in certain parts of the season but also helped this team along the way. This season KB averaged 11.6 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.3 assists while playing 67 games on the year and starting 35 of them.
Bazemore has helped push this franchise forward since he signed in 2014, but his time in Atlanta is coming to a close.
Next year, the expectations for the left-handed guard will decline because of the franchise’s desire to trade him but for now let’s review his fifth season in Atlanta, starting with the initial expectations he had coming into the 2018-19 season.