Kent Bazemore will have his second spell with the Los Angeles Lakers after joining the 2020 NBA champions as a free agent. The 32-year-old small forward previously played 23 games for the Lakers during the 2013-2014 season.
During the following offseason, the Lakers did not extend a qualifying offer to Bazemore as they were trying to sign Carmelo Anthony instead. In the end, Melo stayed with the New York Knicks while Bazemore moved to the Atlanta Hawks. Now, both players joined the Lakers the same year.
When Bazemore was reminded of this story, he admitted to initially feeling ‘fire underneath’ himself in 2014 because the Lakers were not so motivated to keep him. However, in time he understood that it is part of the business.
Via Jacob Rude of Silver Screen and Roll:
“It’s funny, you mention that,” Bazemore said in response to him and Anthony signing this summer. “That kind of lit a fire underneath me a little bit back in the day when I used to hold on to those kinds of things before I understood the business side of everything. But I’m just very fortunate to have another opportunity to play in the best league of basketball and one of the greatest organizations in any sport.”
