Why trading Kent Bazemore makes no sense for the Los Angeles Lakers

1. The Los Angeles Lakers are going to have to trade assets to move off of Kent Bazemore

The Los Angeles Lakers did not have to attach anything to the Rajon Rondo trade as the Cleveland Cavaliers had a use for Rondo. The Cavaliers were looking to replace the void that Ricky Rubio left behind when he suffered a season-ending injury. For that reason, it made a ton of sense for the Cavs to trade a non-guaranteed contract for him.

Heck, even DeAndre Jordan can make that same case. While Jordan has been bad this season, if there is a team that is lacking size and a rebounding prowess then they could talk themselves into trading a non-guaranteed contract for Howard. It does not harm.

That same avenue is not available for Bazemore. Sure, you could say in theory that a team might take a chance on Bazemore since the price is so low but the only teams that would even have that mindset are playoffs teams. A lottery team is not going to bring Bazemore in hoping that he can turn it around in half a season.

Bazemore has no use like Rondo or Jordan because he has been so awful this season. He has played horrendous defense and has not shot efficiently at all. If he was a valuable player to a playoff team then the Lakers wouldn’t be looking to replace him!

For that reason, the only possible trades that make sense (for the other side) is a deal where the Lakers send him to a bad team for a non-guaranteed contract. However, a bad team isn’t going to just do this trade to do the Lakers a favor. They are going to want to get something in return.

The return won’t be high but the Lakers would have to attach a second-round pick to make this possible. While second-round picks are not the most valuable thing in the NBA, there certainly are better uses for them than moving off Bazemore just to open up a roster spot.

Especially when there is another alternative…