Los Angeles Lakers: Kyle Kuzma enjoys his Rising Stars experience
By Nick Ziegler
The Los Angeles Lakers were well-represented in the Rising Stars Challenge. For Kyle Kuzma, it was awesome to play in the game.
This past offseason, the Los Angeles Lakers were able to have another strong NBA Draft, as they were able to select three players that appear to have bright futures in the NBA. While Lonzo Ball received most of the attention as the second overall pick, Kyle Kuzma has been one of the top rookies this season despite being drafted 27th overall.
Coming out of Utah, Kuzma has been an electric scorer for the Lakers as both a starter and off the bench this season. With the ability to play both forward positions, Kuzma is a walking mismatch for defenders. Also, he has been a much better three-point shooter than advertised in college.
For Kuzma, playing in the Rising Stars Challenge was not only an honor but a lot of fun. After the game, he talked about the experience with Matthew Moreno of LakersNation.com. Here’s what he had to say.
"“It was super cool,” he said of playing in the Rising Stars Challenge. “Especially our fans that came out. It sounded like we had a lot of them today, so it was really cool.”"
Overall, it was not a good showing for Team U.S. From the start, Team World jumped out to a big lead and never looked back. However, Kuzma was one of the better players for the U.S. Team.
In the loss, Kuzma totaled 20 points on 9-for-18 shooting. One of his best shots came early on in the game, as he hit a three-point attempt from well beyond the arc. Considering he played the night before and had to travel back to Los Angeles from Minnesota, it was a good showing by Kuzma.
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Now, Kuzma will be focused on having a strong second half of the season for the Lakers. Even though he likely won’t be the Rookie of the Year in the NBA, he does have a good chance to be on the All-Rookie first team. Considering where he was drafted, Kuzma has been a huge steal for the Lakers this season.