Ranking the 5 worst Blazers starters of the Damian Lillard era

2. Kent Bazemore, 2019-20

Kent Bazemore had a long NBA career, playing ten seasons from 2012-22 with five teams, including the Warriors, Lakers, Hawks, Blazers, and Kings. He only spent one season with the Blazers, which was the year of the NBA Bubble. The Blazers finished with a 35-39 record, technically only playing 74 regular season games. Bazemore started in only 21 of those. However, he was still in the most used starting lineup that season, consisting of:

PG: Damian Lillard

SG: CJ McCollum

SF: Kent Bazemore

PF: Carmelo Anthony

C: Hassan Whiteside

Bazemore had previous experience as an NBA starter coming over from the Atlanta Hawks, but his season with the Blazers was one of the worst of his career. He was wildly inefficient, averaging 7.9 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 1.4 assists per game on 35/33/81 shooting splits. Bazemore had a career 41.3 field goal percentage, so it was a significant decline with the Blazers, whether that was due to Portland's playstyle, COVID-19 distractions, or something else entirely.

After his brief, unsuccessful stint in Portland, Bazemore went to the Sacramento Kings in a trade headlined by Trevor Ariza. It was also financially motivated, as Bazemore was owed $19.3 million.