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The Brooklyn Nets have waived forward Darius Bazley.
Bazley signed with Brooklyn as a free agent on July 16 and played in three preseason games, averaging 5.7 points, 6.3 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.0 steals in 20.1 minutes per contest. Bazley has appeared in 228 regular season games (118 starts) over four seasons (2019-23) with Oklahoma City and Phoenix and holds career averages of 9.1 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 23.6 minutes per game.
The Brooklyn Nets have signed free agent forward Darius Bazley.
Bazley (6’9″, 216) appeared in 43 games (one start) in 2022-23 split between the Oklahoma City Thunder (36 games) and Phoenix Suns (seven games), averaging 5.2 points on a career-high 45.4 percent shooting from the field and a career-high 37.7 percent shooting from 3-point range and 3.2 rebounds in 14.3 minutes per game.
Across four NBA seasons with the Thunder (2019-23) and Suns (2023), the 23-year-old Bazley has played in 228 career games (118 starts) and holds averages of 9.1 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 23.6 minutes per game while shooting 41.1 percent from the floor, 31.0 percent from distance and 67.3 percent from the free-throw line.
He also competed in seven playoff games as a reserve during the 2020 postseason for Oklahoma City and posted averages of 6.6 points and 6.7 rebounds in 18.0 minutes per game while shooting 41.9 percent from the field, 50.0 percent from 3-point range and 90.0 percent from the free-throw line.
The Cincinnati native was selected with the 23rd overall pick in the first round of the 2019 NBA Draft by the Utah Jazz before his draft rights were traded to the Memphis Grizzlies and then to the Thunder.
Bazley earned a selection in the 2018 McDonald’s All-American game and was five-star recruit out of Princeton High School in Ohio.
After graduating, Bazley spent one year participating in an internship with New Balance while training for the NBA Draft.
Thunder rookie Darius Bazley hasn’t gotten many mentions this season, but lately, since the NBA restart, he’s showing some nice signs. Here’s the Oklahoman with some examples:
On an afternoon the Thunder was overmatched from the start — five rotational players, including three starters, were scratched for various reasons — there wasn’t much fun versus the Suns.
Phoenix 128, OKC 101.
But if you’re looking for bright spots, none was more brilliant than Bazley. He recorded his first career double double, scoring 22 points, grabbing 10 rebounds and becoming the first Thunder rookie with a double double since Domantas Sabonis in January 2017.
What’s more, it was Bazley’s second 20-point game in as many days. When Sunday dawned, Bazley had never scored 20 points in an NBA game. By the time the sun set Monday, he had done it twice…
Through six seeding games, he is averaging 12.3 points and 5.5 rebounds a game. Before the coronavirus put the season on hold, he was averaging only 4.7 points and 3.7 rebounds.
The Thunder have been an under-the-radar good team all season, and must be pleased to see an additional player step up as the playoffs rapidly approach.