– Kyle Kuzma
After a few tough games for the talented second-year player for the Lakers, Kyle Kuzma had a big night against the Thunder. Without LeBron, the Lakers clearly need Kuzma to big their leading scorer, and he has shown glimpses that he can be.
While Zubac had a monster game off the bench, Kuzma was still the leading scorer for the Lakers in this one. In the win, Kuzma totaled 32 points on 11-for-20 shooting from the field and a strong 7-for-12 from three-point range.
Despite his scoring average going up this year, Kuzma’s three-point percentage has actually dropped a sizeable amount. If the Thunder game was any indication, Kuzma might be getting his shot back to last years form, which would only improve his scoring even more.
After poor scoring games against the Utah Jazz and Chicago Bulls, it was great to see Kuzma come through with a big game. Against a team that has a lot of star power, Kuzma did not back down from Paul George and Russell Westbrook in the fourth quarter. With the Lakers holding on to this win on the road, confidence should be very high as they prepare to play the Houston Rockets on Saturday night.