Kenneth Lamont Bazemore, Jr. (born on July 1, 1989 at Kelford, North Carolina), more widely known as Kent Bazemore, is one of the current Golden State Warriors backup guards. Standing at 6’ 5” and weighing in at 201 lbs, Kent, a second year guard, is known for being one of the quicker guards on the Warriors who is athletic and who has high defensive ability. Although much has yet to be seen from his game thus far, he has quickly become a fan favorite because of his enthusiasm on the bench and even created a phenomenon called “Bazemoring” (refer to picture above).
High School
Bazemore attended Bertie High School in Windsor, North Carolina. As a senior, Bazemore averaged 18.8 points, 10.3 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 3.2 steals per game. He also earned Northeast North Carolina Coastal Conference Player of the Year award along with Roanoke-Chowan Player of the Year for two straight seasons. Despite these honors, Bazemore was not highly recruited coming out of high school, but received a scholarship from Old Dominion University.
College Career
At ODU, Bazemore played all four years, but wasn’t a huge contributor until his junior and senior seasons. Although he didn’t play much in his first two years, Bazemore got better with each passing year and was always known to be a good personality and worker.
During his final two years, Bazemore was chosen as the CAA Defensive Player of the Year amongst earning other honors such as Second Team All-CAA and Lefty Driesell Defensive Player of the Year (award for the nation’s best defensive player).
He helped ODU reach the NCAA tournament in 2011, but lost to Butler 60-58. He left ODU as the 20th all-time scorer with 1416 points, the 2nd all-time steals leader with 250 and played a record 140 career games.
NBA Career
Bazemore went undrafted, but was picked up by the Warriors Summer League team and played well enough to be signed on July 26, 2012. He helped the Warriors go 5-0 in Summer League that year and averaged 10.7 points, 5.0 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 2 steals and 2.33 blocks in 27 minutes in the final three games. Kent appeared in 61 games last season with the Warriors and even had a role in the Warriors playoff success with a crucial layup in Game 1 against the San Antonio Spurs.
He has also made a few appearances with the Santa Cruz Warriors, the D-League affiliate for the Golden State Warriors, and averaged 21.6 points, 7.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists in his time at the D-League.
Bazemore is expected to see a larger role this upcoming season and has worked on his game tremendously in the offseason. His developing game showed this past Summer League where he destroyed opponents. His humility, fun-loving attitude and work ethic have proved that this undrafted pick-up was one of the best decisions that the Warriors have made.
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