To be included in the Los Angeles Lakers starting five and play alongside LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Russell Westbrook – three of the game’s most iconic players – is surely a lifetime opportunity for someone who is only a dreamer.
Kent Bazemore is one among us, but he believes that fulfilling the designated position and addressing your lapses must come up first as a bonafide role player.
Speaking in front of the local reporters, Baze said he’ll ‘1,000%’ love the opportunity to slide through the starting slot, but he cleared that he is unsure of that presented idea to happen.
“I’m still figuring things out. We’ve had injuries, we’ve had coach experimenting with lineups. A lot of times I watch myself on film and it’s kind of like a deer in the headlights just trying to read these guys.”
Bazemore seems to be unhappy about his performance in the preseason, finishing with an abysmal 37.5% on the court while going winless on six occasions with the Lakeshow. Nevertheless, he acknowledged his current state being in the adjustment period and trying to grasp what he sees on his newest team.
“This is my fourth team in three seasons. New playbooks, personnel, it’s been a lot of moving parts around me, and it’s just been a little bit of an identity crisis at times.”
“You play for different teams, and teams put you in different spots. You play the 3 with different teams, you play the 2, you’re the secondary ball handler on a second unit. There’s just so many different places you get put in and they get scrambled a bit. It’s just figuring all that out.”
Still, the veteran swingman is confident on his impact to help Los Angeles in this season of attempting a reemergence.
“I see myself being a huge part of this team’s success with the pieces that I bring to the game. Defense, the trey-ball, positivity, optimism and so many things that I bring. It’s just about figuring it out.”
Further, he is humbled and excited about the things that are coming his way – continuing to embrace the process of playing under the historic purple and gold.
“I think with my upbringing, continuing to be grounded allows me to appreciate those things and not take it for granted. I think I’ve done a good job this year in my own right of just kind of staying the course,” Bazemore told. “It’s easy to kind of get frustrated with how things have been going. If you look at the results, it’s easy to get frustrated. But if you watch the film, you see the growth. You see the glimpses of what this team is going to be, and that just gets you fired up to get working.”
Bazemore and the Lakers will play against the Golden State Warriors at home in a much-anticipated opening night game of the 2021-2022 season on October 19.
