One of the most trying times in Kent Bazemore’s career took place when he was shipped from Golden State to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Steve Blake. Bazemore had only been with the Warriors for a season-and-a-half but already had planned to spend the rest of his career in Oakland.



The trade was unexpected, but it allowed him to go from being a player who was just known for his bench celebrations to getting more than 25 minutes per game with the Lakers. His first game with Los Angeles was against Boston, a nationally televised game on ESPN. Bazemore vividly recalled playing 33 minutes that night in February 2014. He scored 15 points, which was a career high. The move to southern California turned out to be the boost he needed for his career.



“I said to myself, ‘You know what? I get to play and make a few mistakes and let it all hang out.’ I never looked back after that,” Bazemore said.



Bazemore is now in his fifth season...