Los Angeles Lakers: 5 reasons they will make the playoffs this year

5. Kyle Kuzma has stepped up his game

During the offseason I wrote here on Lake Show Life that for the Lakers to become a title contender with this roster as is, one of their young players – likely either Brandon Ingram or Kyle Kuzma – would need to take his game to the next level and become a legit second scoring option to take some of the load off of LeBron James.

Kyle Kuzma may not be fully there yet, but he is definitely getting there.

Through November 30 he was averaging a modest 16.3 points per game, which was about the same as his scoring average from last season, along with 1.7 assists. But, since then, he has ratcheted up his production to 21.1 points per game and 2.8 assists. He has also improved his 3-point shooting, making 33 percent of his triples since the beginning of December compared to 29.8 percent before that.

He is also developing something of a habit of putting up big games against big opponents. In the Lakers’ first game versus the Spurs on October 22, he scored 37 points on 15-of-25 shooting. When the Lakers beat the Thunder in Oklahoma City last month without LeBron, Kuzma made it happen with 32 points, eight rebounds and four assists.

More recently, he had 25 points in the Lakers’ win over the Celtics in the Boston Garden, then followed it up with 39 points on 14-of-21 shooting against the Sixers in Philly. Last season he scored 38 in a road victory in Houston and 28 in a thrilling home win over the Celtics.

It also doesn’t hurt that he had 35 points on 15-of-27 shooting in the NBA Rising Stars game this past weekend and was named the MVP of the game.

Kuzma talked about the work he had done all summer to improve his game. It seems like it is paying off now.

One of the big keys to the Lakers’ playoff hopes is how well their young guys play from here on out. Kuzma is the one young prospect who seems to have the chutzpah to play like a grown man in pressure games and situations.