The Jazz have waived Darius Bazley and Kenneth Lofton Jr., the team announced in a press release.
Both players had upcoming salary guarantee dates, so it’s possible they could re-sign with Utah on new deals later in the offseason. They would have been guaranteed $400K apiece if they had remained with the team through Thursday and $600K if they had been on the opening night roster. Bazley was set to make $2.5MM this season, while Loften was signed for $2.1MM on their non-guaranteed contracts.
Bazley, a 24-year-old power forward/center, signed with Utah on March 12 and appeared in six games, averaging 8.0 points and 4.5 rebounds in 23.7 minutes per night. After being waived by Brooklyn in October, he spent most of last season with Delaware in the G League, other than a three-game stint with Philadelphia on a 10-day contract.
Lofton, a 21-year-old power forward, signed with the Jazz on March 11 and saw action in four games, averaging 13.8 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.8 assists in 22.8 minutes per night. He appeared in 15 games with Memphis at the start of last season before being waived in December and got into two games with Philadelphia on a two-way contract.
Both players were part of Utah’s Summer League roster.
I like both players. Maybe they’ll be brought back later?
Bazley is a nice role player they could still use. Does all the little things to help win games.
Lofton might have been replaced by Filipowski, but still a very skilled, and strong, inside player with great hands.
Bazley can’t be put on a 2-way contract, but I think Lofton still could this year. I think it’s his last one though.
Lofton shouldn’t remain unsigned for too long.
Articles wrong he’s only 21, and no one has really given him much of an opportunity, whenever he’s on the court he puts up numbers.
14-5-5 in 23 minutes as a power forward while shooting over 80% from the free throw line and has the ability to space the floor. Yes he’s undersized and not good defensively but there’s so much potential there it’s crazy.
Imagine him in a Zach LaVine/Jordan Poole role where you say I don’t care about the defence, play him 30 minutes and give him plenty of touches. He’d basically be a Julius Randle that plays worse defence.
You’ve got guys like Chris Duarte still getting contracts, he’s 27, can’t shoot, doesn’t rebound, doesn’t make plays, just running about.
NBA sometimes doesn’t make sense
Duarte is literally on his first round rookie deal.
Lofton is an undrafted meme player who can put up lines in garbage time but doesn’t have the skillset to contribute to winning basketball. He’s not a PF, he’s a 6’6″ center.
Both this article and Basketball reference him as a PF and Basketball reference list him at 6’7 actually…
As for his skill set and garbage minutes your just simply wrong. Dude literally has a 42 point game, which for comparison is also the career high for Joe Johnson and Shawn Kemp. You don’t out that up in garbage minutes….
Duarte was just a random player I chose but if you want someone who just got a deal.
Jermaine Samuel’s was a 24 year old rookie who did next to nothing and just got another 1 year deal.
All I’m saying is Kenny is 21 and the teams he’s been on have hardly given him a chance and when he does get an opportunity he usually puts up really good numbers. Yes he doesn’t have a complete all round game, I’m not saying he does but to say he has no skill set is just wrong
Saying he’s not good defensively is underselling it – truth is, he’s pretty woeful defensively. At 6″7 he’s too small to play the 4 or 5, but he’s too slow to play the 3, and that’s not looking at the criticisms of his effort. Lots of accounts of him blowing up at teammates for his mistakes defensively while in the G-League too.
Attitude might in part be a problem but considering the age and the talent you’d think the right team would take a chance on him.
As for the size and skill set I think almost every player no matter their limitations has a place in this league. We had a 6’10 point guard that couldn’t shoot who was an all nba talent, Charles Barkley was a 6’6 PF that made the hall of fame, Mugsy Bouges was a 5’2 point guard and had a career over 10 years in the league.
As for Kenny think he definitely needs a centre with size that’ll protect the paint next to him, think he’d do well next to a Capela type
5’3*
Would take Bazley on my squad as a rotational front court player, Lofton basically has to play point guard without defense to play in the nba, think he’s a tough guy for teams to put too many eggs into his basket
Waiving them now augars that there won’t be a Markkanen trade since either one could have been included as additional matching salary.
The Jazz can absorb salary, so there’s no need to send out more. Plus, I’m hearing that Wiggins would need to be traded to a 3rd team for any Markkanen to GSW deal to be possible.
Never liked loftons game. NEEDS the ball to be effective and he always looks out of shape. He is a 6’6 center with no rim protection. He’s still young , maybe he can learn how to play DE or TE?!
Lofton can be a bit too ball dominant, but he played really well for the Jazz at the end of last year. Didn’t look out of shape then or during SL.
If I were him, I wouldn’t wait on the Jazz, just in case. I’m sure he could get another 2-way deal with someone.
Almost everybody plays well on a team tank. And come on, The kid has 0 motor. And if I were him ,I would Forsure take a 2 way to still be in the mix.