After defeating the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday night, Los Angeles Clippers head coach Doc Rivers had some high praise for Kyle Kuzma.
With 20 games now in the books for the Los Angeles Lakers, it is clear that they got a steal with their second first-round draft pick from the summer. Many questioned selecting Kyle Kuzma with the 27th overall pick, but he has been nothing short of fantastic for the Lakers.
Kuzma has been able to carry over his strong Summer League performance into the regular season, and he has been one of the best players on the Lakers this season. So far, Kuzma is averaging 16.7 points and 6.1 rebounds per game.
As both a starter and a bench player, Kuzma has shined for the Lakers, and he has quickly caught the attention of plenty of people. One of those people is Clippers head coach, Doc Rivers.
"“He’s been terrific,” Rivers said to Tania Ganguli of the LA Times. “Right now he may the leader for rookie of the year or one of them. At least he should be in the running.”"
This is certainly some high praise coming from Rivers, as getting that type of recognition from another head coach doesn’t happen often. While the praise is nice, Kuzma is going to have some good competition for the Rookie of the Year award.
As of now, it looks like Ben Simmons of the Philadelphia 76ers is going to run away with the award. So far this season, Simmons is averaging 18.1 points, 9.1 rebounds, and 7.4 assists per game. While Kuzma is having a great rookie season, his numbers aren’t close to Simmons’
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What was very surprising against Rivers and the Clippers was that Kuzma only played 20 minutes in his first game back on the bench with Nance back. Rivers was likely very happy to see Kuzma play just 20 minutes, as he scored 15 points on five-for-seven shooting from the field.
While the praise from Rivers is nice, Kuzma is going to have an uphill battle to try and dethrone Simmons as the potential Rookie of the Year this season.