While Mitch Kupchak created a title team as general manager with the Lakers, one of his biggest gaffes included the ending of Kent Bazemore’s first tenure in Los Angeles.
The Lakers’ offseason plan of landing a superstar free agent, an unsuccessful one that was repeated over and over, led to them sacrificing other players along the way, Bazemore included. After being acquired in a midseason trade in the 2013-14 season, Bazemore pieced together a strong 23 games for the Lakers, averaging 13.1 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.1 assists while shooting 37.1% from the 3-point line.
That made it all the more peculiar when the Lakers did not extend a qualifying offer to Bazemore, instead opting for more cap space to be able to offer Carmelo Anthony a maximum contract in free agency.