Disappointing Lakers let veteran forward Kent Bazemore depart

The Lakers' roster overhaul continues. They haven’t re-signed any of their free agents from last season, including Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard, and another veteran has departed. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium, Kent Bazemore has found a new home, signing a one-year contract with the Kings. He joins former Lakers teammate Malik Monk, who agreed to a two-year, $19M contract with the Kings in June.

Los Angeles was one of the league's bigger disappointments last season and is clearly in need of a reboot. Bazemore started for the Lakers in the opener against the Warriors but eventually fell out of the rotation. The 33-year-old barely had a role with Los Angeles, averaging 3.4 points in 14 minutes over just 39 games (14 starts).

Sacramento makes sense for Bazemore as new head coach Mike Brown, a former Lakers assistant, worked with him two years ago with the Warriors. That familiarity will help Bazemore become a veteran whom Brown can rely on.

Bazemore wanted to re-sign with the Lakers 

Bazemore declined a better offer to return to the Warriors when he signed with the Lakers in the 2021 offseason. The Warriors won the NBA championship while Lakers didn’t even make the Play-In Tournament. Despite this, Bazemore wanted to stay in Los Angeles.

“What I’ll say is nothing ain’t much better than being a Laker, right?” Bazemore told TMZ Sports earlier in the offseason. “So, getting to see Kobe numbers on the wall every day I went to practice was good inspiration for me. … There’s nothing like it, man.”

The Lakers didn’t share Bazemore’s desire to extend their relationship as their priority has been to get younger. The Kings haven’t made the playoffs since 2016, but they have a decent core led by De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis, and Bazemore will have a fair chance to find a role. 

What other moves can the Lakers make?

The Lakers were busy at the start of free agency, but most of the top free agents have already found new homes. As constructed, they won't compete for a championship. Can they make another trade? It looked like a deal for Nets guard Kyrie Irving was done, but their hopes of landing him took a significant blow in recently. 

The Lakers could revisit a potential trade for the Pacers' Myles Turner and Buddy Hield. The Lakers original proposal was rejected by Indiana because Los Angeles refused to include two first-round picks in a deal for Russell Westbrook.