The question of what position Kyle Kuzma plays has been a difficult one. Entering year three, let’s see which position he’s best suited for on the Los Angeles Lakers.
For the Los Angeles Lakers, Kyle Kuzma is an example of a player whose position has been hard to pin down. He has the shooting touch of a guard, the size of a nominal power-forward, but at most, has the strength of a wing. Since his rookie year, Kuzma has been spending most of his time at the power forward position, sliding up from his projected position of small forward when he was first drafted and so far, it has yielded mixed results.
When it comes to defining what position is best suited for Kuzma, there are two ways to look at it; offense and defense. Offensively, Kuzma’s best position is no doubt the power forward, where his shooting ability has the most impact at keeping a spaced floor for his teammates.
Let’s examine some of the offensive contributions Kuzma brings to the floor. Last season, per Cleaningtheglass, with Kuzma on the floor, the Lakers scored +3.7 more points per 100 possessions (80th percentile). The team’s eFG% also went up +1.5% (77th percentile) as well. He also established a nice chemistry with LeBron James, improving his ability to play off ball.
In addition, Kuzma has a wide array of offensive tools at his disposal, from being a solid spot-up shooter, a reliable pick and pop threat, a fairly decent passer out of double teams and drives to the basket. When it comes to offensive contributions, Kuzma is no doubt at his best when he’s at the four, as he’s generally quicker than most fours, and has a quick shot release to boot.
Defensively is where it starts to get tricky, as he is way too undersized in terms of both height and strength to match up against opposing power forwards, let alone centers. The Al Horford’s, and Paul Millsap’s of the league have been taking advantage of Kuzma on that end since he came into the league and the numbers show.
Let’s take a look at the defensive metrics for Kuzma. In his first two seasons in the league, opposing teams have scored +3.5 (24th percentile) and +2.2 (28th percentile) more points per 100 possessions with him on the floor. But let’s dig deeper into these numbers.
In terms of minutes played at each position, Kuzma spent 83% of his time last season at power forward, 15% at center, and only 3% at small forward. So it would appear that the whole “Kuzma at center” fiasco was a little overblown.
This is further aided by the fact that his time at center last season actually garnered the best defensive metrics for Kuzma, as opponent eFG% per 100 possessions dropped to 51.1% (77th percentile), higher than the 52.2% eFG% opponents averaged when he was at power forward. Obviously the Lakers offensive rebounding rate dropped to a paltry 19.5% (4th percentile), which is atrocious, but expected when a team goes small.
So what should we make of all these numbers exactly? Kyle Kuzma is one of the Lakers’ most versatile offensive weapons, and his ability to score in a variety of ways from the power forward makes him an incredibly valuable player. On the other hand, his defensive limitations at that same position no doubt make him a liability on that end.
It’s also been hard to get a read on Kuzma’s development over the offseason as a stress reaction in his left foot has sidelined him since the start of training camp, so we have yet to see him in action with this new look Lakers team.
But both the numbers and eye test show that Kyle Kuzma’s best position is still the power forward as that seems to be the position he is most comfortable playing, and the position he makes the biggest impact for this team. His defensive limitations could be mitigated by bringing him off the bench, but that’s a conversation for another day.