Darius Bazley Adapting to Role, Earning Playing Time

Thunder forward Darius Bazley is playing with consistency over Oklahoma City's first six games.

Oklahoma City turned in three ultra-entertaining games last week resulting in three straight wins.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is having an excellent start to the 2022-23 season and the supporting cast is filling in nicely. As a team, the Thunder really struggle to shoot from long distance, but they make up for it in effort on the defensive end. Oklahoma City feels like a legitimately good defensive team.

Once Chet Holmgren is added into the equation next season, the Thunder’s potential on the defensive end has no limits. The roster is well-constructed with rangy length at every position. But in the meantime, Oklahoma City still has questions to figure out in the front court.

Saturday night against Dallas, Oklahoma City was significantly out-rebounded until the final few minutes when the Thunder made its miraculous comeback run. Darius Bazley was part of that run, and he’s quietly putting together a few games of consistent efficiency. Even though he makes a few frustrating mistakes, he seems to be Oklahoma City’s best rebounder and shot blocker. He gives the Thunder size and strength down low, and seems to be adjusting to his role.

In the past, the main struggle for the young forward was taking care of the ball and eliminating erratic drives to the basket. Next to creators like Gilgeous-Alexander and Tre Mann, though, Bazley is starting to thrive as a play finisher. There are still a few head scratchers here and there, but it’s pretty clear Bazley is begging to understand what he brings to the table.

In addition to his play finishing, he’s shown serious promise on the defensive end. Not only does he go head to head with the NBA’s best centers, but Bazley has shown added confidence stepping out and guarding on the perimeter too. In Dallas, he had several impressive sequences on defense against one of the best isolation scorers in the NBA, Luka Doncic.

Darius Bazley would've committed a foul here a year or two ago in this exact situation. This is a noticeable improvement from him on the defensive end: being disciplined in using his body without fouling. He didn't give into any of Luka's moves pic.twitter.com/y82UWaqy2W

— Rich Stayman (@MavsDraft) October 30, 2022

His benching could have been for many different reasons. For the time being, though, Bazley has done enough to earn heavy playing time moving forward. He’s clearly one of Oklahoma City’s best big man options and could provide solid minutes in an energized role.

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