Atlanta Hawks: Why Now is the Time to Trade Kent Bazemore

Kent Bazemore has spent his best seasons with the Atlanta Hawks. He has made himself into a solid three-and-D player,  but now his time with Atlanta needs to come to an end.

The Atlanta Hawks teams of old are long gone, with one exception, Kent Bazemore. Bazemore has remained with the Hawks through their rebuild thus far. This is thanks in part to a bad contract that makes Baze difficult to move.

This season he has garnered trade interest, however, averaging 14.2-points per game and playing well on both ends of the court.

Now is the time for the Hawks to take advantage of this interest and move Kent. Anything aside from taking another longterm contract is acceptable if it allows the Hawks to move on from Bazemore.

This isn’t anything against the forward, only pointing out moving him is better for the team long term. It was only after Kent Bazemore was injured that we truly begin to see the young core work together and lean on each other consistently.

Kevin Huerter improved remarkably without Bazemore to lean on, becoming noticeably more aggressive in his absence. As painful as it may be for some Hawks fans it is time to move on from Bazemore.

Trading him before he comes back from his current injury is the Hawks best option.  It will allow for better team chemistry and allow the young players to continue to learn to play together. Kent has proven himself to be a clutch player, one his rookie teammates will choose to lean on in crunch time.

While Baze is capable of the big game, this season isn’t about putting the best team on the floor. It is about letting the Hawks young core go out and compete learning how to work and most importantly win together.

Bazemore has had a good (albeit an inconsistent) run with the Hawks. A run that now must come to an end as the Hawks’ future continues to start taking shape.