Los Angeles Lakers forward Kyle Kuzma appeared on Kevin Garnett’s “Area 21” show this week.
Los Angeles Lakers forward Kyle Kuzma was featured on TNT earlier this season as a part of Kickstart Rising Stars Content Series. He made another appearance this week.
If you haven’t heard of Kevin Garnett‘s show “Area 21”, it is a TNT show led by the former Celtics champion, which usually features guest appearances from many former NBA players.
Tuesday was no different, as Garnett was joined by former NBA player Rasheed Wallace, current Alabama coach and former NBA coach/player Avery Johnson, and the Lakers’ own Kyle Kuzma.
Kuzma joined to talk about his fashion style, his rookie season, and to even play a little game of Jenga with the boys.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BiS3QzSgsxb/?taken-by=kuz
Kuzma’s Fashion Style
One of the topics that KG and the other guys asked Kuzma about was his fashion. Kuzma was nominated for Best Style for the NBA Awards on TNT that will be voted on by the fans and unveiled on June 25th. Kuz is joined by fellow nominees Russell Westbrook, LeBron James, James Harden, and former Laker Nick Young.
Kuzma was asked whose style in the league that he respects, and he had quite a long pause before saying “James is cool” in reference to Harden. He also talked about LeBron and Westbrook.
After experiencing Kuzma’s immense confidence (which can be confused with cockiness) in himself throughout the season, I thought he was going to say something arrogant here.
Judging from the pause, I think he wanted to say “No one, really” but he decided not to disrespect the other names nominated for Best Style with him. Smart move by him, as everyone would have been talking about it if he disrespected them, even if it was in regards to something as trivial as style.
The four went on to talk about different styles throughout the years amongst NBA Players, while Kuzma stated he just went with the flow and wore whatever he thought was cool that day. The fans and the NBA definitely took notice of his style and gave him that nomination.
The boys finished the segment by having a good time talking about Kuzma’s fur coat (seen here) that he wore during the Lakers’ road trip to Chicago during the season.
Kuzma Talks About His Rookie Season
KG and the other two NBA legends spent more time talking to Kuzma about his unexpectedly stellar rookie season. Here are a few small tidbits that can be seen in the video above.
- Kuzma compared the coaching styles of Luke Walton and his Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak. Kuz said Walton takes more of the “zen” approach that Phil Jackson took, while Krystkowiak was more “old school” and would “cuss you out and try to bring the best out of you”.
- KG asked what the biggest adjustment was going from college to the NBA. Kuzma stated that it was definitely the pace. He also said defensively, it’s almost two different sports between college basketball and the NBA.
- The four guys emphasized taking care of your body. Kuz talked about being in the weight room and how it kept him on the court for most of the 82 game season. They also all joked about being careful with the Los Angeles lifestyle and surrounding yourself with good people.
- Kuz also said he had never even been to Los Angeles until being drafted.
The most interesting moment of the conversation came when Kuzma was asked of his favorite moment of the year. He brought up the January 23rd game at home against the Boston Celtics.
Garnett poked fun at this, as Kuzma seemed to be trying to reignite the Lakers-Celtics rivalry that has been pretty quiet since the Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett days. Kuz talked about his individual performance, but you could tell that it really meant a lot to him to have a close victory at home against the Celtics. He realizes the moment of “Lakers and Celtics” and what it could mean to his career someday, especially with both teams touting talented, young rosters right now.
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Be sure to watch the two videos above, as it is pretty cool to see Kuzma interacting with some NBA legends.