New Portland Trail Blazers swingman Kent Bazemore left the Atlanta Hawks with one last goodbye through his Twitter account, thankful for his last five seasons there, where he forged his career:
Atlanta, I dont even know where to start. Want to thank the @atlhawks for the a tremendous run over the past five years. Lots of roots planted in this city! To the front office and management, thank you putting me in a situation to thrive! #RIPCITY LETS GET IT!! @trailblazers pic.twitter.com/JoR49ol0sd
— Kenny Baze (@24Bazemore) June 24, 2019
The Hawks had been looking to trade Kent Bazemore for more than a year now, looking to dump the remaining $19.3 million left on his contract. The Hawks rewarded the 6-foot-5 wing with a four-year, $70 million deal in 2016, but they just traded him to Portland.
The Blazers are hoping he can pick up where he left off in the 2017-18 season, as his playing time went down during the last campaign, resulting in a down trend after posting career highs across the board.
Bazemore, an agile wing with 3-and-D ability, averaged 12.9 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 1.5 steals while shooting a strong 39.4% from deep in 2017-18. If Portland can yield that production from him as a starter or as a cog off the bench, it would give them an edge they didn't previously have with Evan Turner.
While this appears to be a like-for-like trade, Bazemore gives the Blazers what they didn't have with Turner — 3-point shooting and a knack for making defensive plays (averaged more than half a block per game in the last four seasons).
If Portland can tune into Bazemore's 3-and-D capabilities, they will have yet another weapon to help the backcourt of Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum, improving their overall depth while they await the return of Jusuf Nurkic.
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