Here is the one key thing that Kyle Kuzma must improve on to reach stardom with the Los Angeles Lakers.
When the Los Angeles Lakers traded D’Angelo Russell and the awful contract of Timofey Mozgov on Draft Day 2017 to the Brooklyn Nets for Brook Lopez and the draft right to Kyle Kuzma, plenty of Lakers fans didn’t think much of the Flint, Michigan. native. Mostly because he was only the 27th pick overall.
But during the 2017 Summer League, he started to pique the interest of Lakers Nation by averaging 21.9 points and 6.4 rebounds while shooting 51.4 percent from the field and 48 percent from 3-point range while being named the MVP of the championship game.
During his subsequent rookie season, he backed up his Summer League performance by putting up 16.1 points a game and making 36.6 percent of his 3-balls, even though he hit the proverbial rookie wall hard between about Christmas and March. Indeed, from March 1 onward, he scored 18.5 points per game and shot 38.5 percent from downtown while playing 37.3 minutes.
Last summer, he was vocal about wanting to expand upon what he did in his rookie season and talked about how hard he was going to work on his game during the 2018 offseason.
In some ways, it paid off. He improved his scoring average this past season from 16.1 to 18.7, while averaging 19.8 a game starting on December 2. He also increased his assists from 1.8 to 2.5 a game, and showed more effort and results on the defensive end.
From day one, he has possessed the type of polished offensive repertoire that you’d expect from someone who’s been in the league for at least five years. In his rookie season, Kuzma made a strong 51.1 percent of his 2-point attempts, but he bumped that up to 55.3 percent in his sophomore season.
But there was one facet of his game in which he struggled big time. You guessed it, his 3-point shooting.
He made a solid 36.6 percent of his treys in his rookie season, but that number fell to a very anemic 30.3 percent in 2018-19. In a league that’s become predominantly based on early offense and spreading the floor to shoot 3s, that’s simply unacceptable.
If Kuzma had been a solid 3-point shooter this past season, he might’ve eclipsed a 20 points per game.
With the Lakers set to become legit title contenders in 2019-20, Kuzma will likely at least get All-Star consideration if he simply improves that aspect of his game while maintaining the other areas of his game. It’s become a very vital component of the offensive end of the floor in today’s NBA.
Often times, when a player is considered to be on the bubble of being chosen as a reserve to be on the All-Star team, they will get the nod if he’s playing on an elite team.
An example of this is Khris Middleton. He averaged 18.3 points per game in 2018-19, and like Kuzma, he doesn’t excel greatly at any other facet of the game (although he’s a slightly better passer by virtue of his 4.3 assists per game). Yet, he was named to the All-Star team, probably because his Milwaukee Bucks were on their way to amassing the best record in the league.
Another reason is that Middleton is a strong 3-point shooter, making 37.8 percent of his long-range attempts last season.
Given Kuzma’s chutzpah and penchant for coming up big in big moments and against big-time opponents, improving his 3-point shooting is probably the final step in him someday becoming an All-Star. He doesn’t necessarily need to ever become an above-average defensive player, although it would be a really pleasant development.
Kuzma may never reach the stature and accomplishments of James Worthy, a Hall-of-Famer, seven-time All-Star and three-time world champion. But just as a reference point, although Worthy averaged 17.6 points a game for his career and put up over 20 a game in four different seasons, he was never that good of a good rebounder (5.0 boards for his career), passer (3.0 career assists per game) or defender.
Yet he’s seen as a Laker legend and a fixture of much of the Showtime era.
As long as LeBron James is around and still playing at a high level, Kuzma may not get the opportunity to score that much more than he did last season. But after James either retires or leaves the Lakers, they’ll need Kuzma to step it up and take on a greater burden, and by becoming a good, if not great, 3-point shooter, he can assure that he’s ready for that when the time comes.
There are some signs that he’s getting there. It was reported earlier this summer that he had tweaked his shooting form and elevated the release point on his jumper.
He also played well in Team USA’s exhibition blowout win over Australia on Aug. 22. He not only scoring 12 points in less than 20 minutes, but hit four out of his five 3-point attempts.
Whether Kuzma starts or comes off the bench this upcoming season, don’t be surprised to see him suiting up for the NBA’s mid-season classic in Chicago next February, and for several All-Star games in the future if he develops some true marksmanship from beyond the arc.
One thing’s for sure: he has the confidence in himself that he needs to make it happen.