Sixth Man of the Year: Kyle Kuzma
Last season, Kyle Kuzma went from late round unknown into a household name overnight because of his surprising rookie season.
The biggest reason why was his ability to light it up and score from pretty much any spot on the court. He finished the season as the Lakers leading scorer and was selected First-Team All-Rookie.
Even after all of those accomplishments in his first season, Kuzma might be relegated to coming off of the bench to start next season. However, that could work to his advantage because he can be the go-to scorer on one of the best second units in all of basketball.
He will likely be playing alongside Rajon Rondo, who is one of the better set up men in the league, and will get him the ball in the best places for him to be successful.
The Sixth Man of the Year Award has traditionally gone to the best bench scorer in the league throughout its history, and this season that could easily be Kyle Kuzma if he ends up being used as a spark off of the bench. The last Laker to win this award was Lamar Odom back in the 2010-11 season, and Kuzma would only be the second Lakers player to win the trophy.
He has a good chance to post big numbers even though he might not be a starter. He could still get a ton of minutes and if so he should be able to replicate the same scoring rate he put up last season. If he does put up similar numbers to last year in a sixth man role, then it will not be a surprise to see him add this award to his trophy case at the end of this season.