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2022 Free Agents - Kent Bazemore

Summary
Bazemore is one of those "three-and-D" wings that is only decent at both of those aspects, and "decent" might be generous at this point in his career. Although he hit 41% from three in the '20-'21 season with the Warriors, for his career he is only a 36% shooter from outside, and in '21-'22 he shot a slightly-above-average 37% on low volume. While he has some ability to put the ball on the floor and attack hard closeouts, he isn't a great off-the-dribble threat or someone that you want handling the ball very much.

Bazemore takes more midrange jumpers than he should, considering he is above-average in shot frequency from that range for his position, but below average on accuracy, according to Cleaning the Glass. He also isn't much of a playmaker, only averaging over three assists per game once in his career and consistently having a poor turnover rate.

On defense, Bazemore holds his own but he tends to gamble too much or commit unnecessary fouls. He has the size to guard multiple positions but is a little too small to guard most of the elite wings.

Bazemore failed to make a positive impact on the Lakers in '21-'22, and fell out of the rotation as the season progressed. I would be surprised if Bazemore is able to get anything above the minimum as a free agent in 2022, as he seems like your classic veteran minimum player now, at best.
 
Cap Considerations
Bazemore will be an unrestricted free agent with a $1.8 million cap hold and Non-Bird Rights. This means that the highest starting salary the Lakers could offer him using the Non-Bird Exception is $3.4 million. This should be enough to retain Bazemore, since he settled for the minimum of $2.6 million to come to Los Angeles. Alternatively, the Lakers could use their Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception to re-sign Bazemore if he demands more than $3.4 million. 

Other teams will have multiple ways to sign Bazemore as even teams without cap space could possibly use any of the Non-Taxpayer MLE, Taxpayer MLE, Room MLE, or Bi-Annual Exception to sign him. Since he signed a minimum contract in 2021, teams will hope to get him at the minimum in 2022 too, and he may not even get fully guaranteed offers.

Potential Teams: Bucks, Nets, Lakers, Bulls, Heat

Predicted Contract: 1-year, $2.9 million (non-guaranteed) with the Bucks

Actual Contract: 1-year, $2.9 million ($1.8 million cap hit) with the Kings

Bazemore ended up signing a one-year minimum with the Kings. Sacramento is a somewhat strange fit positionally with the Kings, but at the minimum it's a fine signing.

Last updated: 8/7/2022

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