Los Angeles Lakers: Kyle Kuzma confident about making playoffs

For the Los Angeles Lakers, the goal for next season is to certainly make the playoffs. Whether they land a star or not, Kyle Kuzma believes they can.

Even though the Los Angeles Lakers took a nice step forward last season, they did fall short of reaching the playoffs last season. With a lot of young players and new faces, making the playoffs was going to be a big challenge for the Lakers in an extremely deep Western Conference. However, there was a decent chunk of the season that the Lakers were playing like a playoff in the NBA.

Unfortunately, inexperience and injuries resulted in the Lakers coming back to earth a bit, and they ultimately were eliminated from the playoffs with a couple of weeks to play. Even though they did fall short of reaching the postseason, Lakers rookie Kyle Kuzma believes that the Lakers could have made the playoffs if not for giving away some games early in the season due to their youth and inexperience.

Recently Kuzma talked about not making the playoffs and why he believes that the Lakers can make it next season. Here’s what Kuzma had to say on Undisputed with text from LakersNation.com.

"“Honestly, I think we could’ve made the playoffs this year. For instance, we won 35 games. We had a lot of games at the beginning of the year that we didn’t know how to win that were right here and we just didn’t grab. So, for us, I don’t see why we can’t. Even if we add [somebody] or not.”"

While all of the potential changes for the Lakers this coming season, it is hard to say that they will be a playoff team for sure. However, with the expected development of Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart, and Kuzma, the Lakers have a really good young core in place.

Next: Kyle Kuzma's Top 5 games of the 2017-18 season

If all of these players improve like they should, the Lakers can certainly sneak into a playoff spot depending on what happens with some other teams in the Western Conference. However, if they are able to land one of the stars they desire, the Lakers should absolutely be in the playoffs next season. The confidence that Kuzma has in his team already for next season with or without a star is a very encouraging sign for what could be to come in Los Angeles.