Los Angeles Lakers: Kyle Kuzma fits the mold for positionless basketball
By Nick Ziegler
The Los Angeles Lakers have a very special talent on their hands in Kyle Kuzma. In Summer League, Kuzma proved that he can play multiple positions.
With the 27th overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft, the Los Angeles Lakers selected Utah forward, Kyle Kuzma. After a very good career at Utah, Kuzma is prepared to make it in the NBA.
Coming into Summer League, fans were very excited to see what Kuzma could do on the court. As the 27th pick, expectations weren’t as high for Kuzma as they were for Lonzo Ball. However, Kuzma arguably played just as well as Ball in Summer League, and the two have great chemistry.
One of the reasons why the Lakers drafted Kuzma, was his ability to stretch the floor. At 6’9”, Kuzma has the desired height to be a forward in the NBA. As the game becomes more centered around shooting three-pointers, having forwards who can shoot them has become almost a necessity.
Coming out of Utah, Kuzma has been listed as a power forward. However, seeing him on the court, it is clear that he can play small forward as well.
"“I wouldn’t call myself a four. I would call myself a basketball player who can play multiple positions and can guard multiple positions too,” Kuzma said to Harrison Faigen of SilverScreenAndRoll.com.“He is a positionless basketball player who plays with great energy and great confidence, and you can see that here during the summer league,” Pelinka said to Faigen. “He’s just a tremendous talent. We’re so proud of our scouting department for doing a great job of evaluating him.”"
During the Summer League, Kuzma averaged 21.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per game. Kuzma was able to shoot the ball very well from both two-point range and three-point range.
Depending on who was covering him, Kuzma was able to use either his size or his speed to overpower or blow by the defender. With some talented forwards on the Lakers already, Kuzma appears like he is going to force Luke Walton to get him minutes in his rookie season.
Finding a scorer like Kuzma that late in the NBA Draft looks like the Lakers were able to find a steal early on. Kuzma ranking 6th in the Las Vegas Summer League is certainly an encouraging sign for the Lakers heading into the season.
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With positionless basketball becoming the new normal, Kuzma appears to be a player that fits the mold. To finish games in the Summer League, Kuzma was often the tallest player on the court for the Lakers. While that likely won’t happen in the regular season, seeing that in the Summer League could be how the Lakers want to play in the next few years.