Strained relationship led to USC star's dismissal

Baker-Mazara, at his fifth school, proved a reliable scorer but not a dependable player.

- RYAN KARTJE

CHAD Baker-Mazara walks off after spending the second half of his last game detached from the action.

(WILLIAM LIANG Associated Press)

USC's decision to dismiss top scorer and three-point shooter Chad Baker-Mazara on the doorstep of the postseason left many wondering Sunday why coach Eric Musselman would seemingly sabotage his team's already-tenuous hopes of making the NCAA tournament.

To Gilbert Arenas, the former NBA star and podcast host whose son, Alijah, is a freshman guard with the Trojans, the move was particularly baffling. So he took to social media Sunday, wearing Baker-Mazara's No. 4 USC jersey, to share his frustration.

“Right before the tournament? This is what we're doing?” Arenas said in the video. “Our best player? Mr. I-Get-Buckets? Every night, he brings it every night. Guaranteed 18, 20 every night.”

“When you the best player on the team, whatever you say, you right,” he continued.

The move to part ways with Baker-Mazara was not based on an isolated incident, a person familiar with the decision but not authorized to discuss it publicly told The Times, but rather the culmination of a season's worth of issues that boiled over after the second half of Saturday's home loss to Nebraska.

The Trojans were trailing by three points three minutes into the second half when Baker-Mazara took off in transition after Cornhuskers forward Pryce Sandfort, who was driving for a layup. Baker-Mazara closed the gap and swatted the ball. Then he fell hard on the hardwood.