LeBron’s new superteam in LA
The notion that the Lakers only have two All-Star caliber players in LeBron James and Anthony Davis is wrong.
The Lakers have three great players; LBJ, AD, and Kyle Kuzma.
In the modern NBA, All-Stars like Giannis Antetokounmpo, Paul George, Joel Embiid, LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Durant, and Anthony Davis have made the forward spot the deepest and most important position in the game.
Kyle Kuzma isn’t an All-Star yet, but he was one of the best young forwards in the league last season. Despite his youth and the excess of great wings throughout the NBA, he finished the season ranked 18th out all forwards in the league in points at 18.7 per game.
He averaged nearly 20 PPG while trudging through a nasty sophomore slump that saw his 3-point percentage plunge from a respectable 37% during his rookie year down to 30% throughout his second season in the association.
Kyle Kuzma’s not a bad shooter like his 3-point percentage last year indicates. He has good lift on his jump shot, he squares his shoulders towards the basket when shooting, and he gets excellent rotation off his shots from distance. His jumper will improve next year and throughout the rest of his career.
It’s also clear that Rob Pelinka and the front office see Kyle Kuzma as the player who can take the Lakers from a team with a great duo and turn them into LeBron’s third superteam.
During Rob Pelinka’s trade negotiations this summer with the Pelicans front office he made it known that the Lakers would not include Kyle Kuzma in a deal for Anthony Davis.
There was speculation that the Purple and Gold wanted to keep Kuz because he ingratiated himself to Jeanie Buss and the rest of the front office, but that’s weak logic. The Lakers front office has always made it abundantly clear that basketball is a business and that they make their decisions based on what they believe is best for the team.
Other people reasoned that the Purple and Gold insisted on retaining Kuzma over Brandon Ingram because his contract was around $4 million less per season and the Lakers needed that money to open up max cap space for a third All-Star. That theory is slightly more rational, but Rob Pelinka has shown throughout his time with the Lakers that he’s more than capable of clearing cap space when he needs to (i.e., he was able to unload Mozgov and Deng’s awful contracts).
Lakers management kept Kyle Kuzma over Brandon Ingram because they understood Kyle Kuzma would join forces with LeBron James and Anthony Davis to create the best trio in the NBA next season.