During the summer, the Los Angeles Lakers extended a qualifying offer to guard/forward Kent Bazemore to once again play for them after appearing in 28 games for the franchise back in the 2013-2014 season.
Bazemore declined the offer and ultimately chose to stay with the Atlanta Hawks where he has spent the past two seasons and become an important piece of their rotation.
Months after turning the Lakers down, the 27-year-old discussed why he did not choose to play for the Purple and Gold and opted to stay in Atlanta, he also thanked his former team for giving him a chance to showcase his talents before.
Per Mark Medina of The Orange County Register:
“One thing you want in this league is to be wanted. They didn’t pick it up for that little amount of money. So that showed how much they believed in me and my abilities. That closed that chapter.”
“I still thank the organization for giving me a chance to go out and show I can play. There’s no bad blood. But from the business side, they had their chance.”
“Knowing I wanted to be here was critical for me. Knowing the feeling was mutual with the front office was great. I had a lot of teams knocking, but it didn’t make sense to leave and tear down what I built here.”
After securing his four-year, $70 million contract, a video also surfaced with Bazemore giving his reasons why he loves Atlanta and why his fiancee was a major factor in his decision last summer.
With Dwight Howard also joining their fold, the Hawks are looking to make some noise in the Eastern Conference and become a contender. Bazemore will be relied upon for his energy and timely baskets that he has proved to be capable of during the past two seasons.
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