Atlanta Hawks Need to Move on From Kent Bazemore
By Kit Anderson
The Atlanta Hawks have a big contract issue with Kent Bazemore. Bazemore has two years left on his deal. A deal overpaying Bazemore and making him $18-Million this coming season.
Kent Bazemore will be the highest paid Atlanta Hawks player in the 2018-19 season. Saying they are overpaying Bazemore would be a huge understatement for a team slated to pay him $18 and $19-million over the next two seasons.
Bazemore is coming off of his best season to date but nothing deserving of those numbers. Last season Baze average 12.1 points a game and shot and just over 3 assists and rebounds a game. Those are numbers for a good bench player, not a highly paid NBA starter.
The one saving grace for Baze is he is a good defender and a great long-range shooter. He shot over 39 percent from beyond the arc last season and would shoot better than that surrounded by better weapons.
The Hawks need to be creative this off-season and rid themselves of Bazemore. One possible scenario would be pairing him with a draft pick to make his contract more acceptable.
Another would be a mutual salary dumping. The Cleveland Cavs could be one potential trade partner considering their roster is riddled with bad contracts and they are likely to rebuild after this season.
A bad contract swap taking a worse shorter term contract would be the best case scenario for the rebuilding Atlanta Hawks.
They have players who can fill Bazemore’s minutes on much better contracts. Filling his minutes with a draft pick or another young player would be the best decision for the Hawks.
Aside from Bazemore, the Miles Plumlee contract is another bad deal for the Hawks. The center is scheduled to make $12-million for two more seasons. With the Hawks expected to add a big man in the draft expect them to look for ways to rid themselves of Plumlee as well.