Kyle Kuzma is now placed right in the middle of Lakers rumors for the next month. Whether it’s his inconsistent play or his trainer’s comments, it seems that every media outlet has Lakers rumors of Kuzma going to numerous places. Lake Show Life breaks down what’s real and what’s not.
What a difference a few months make when you are a member of the Los Angeles Lakers around the trade deadline and those Lakers rumors begin to swirl.
Lakers rumors took on a life of its own when LeBron James signed his contract two summers ago and it was logged into the computer system. Since then, the “young core” of the Lakers time in a purple and gold uniform was short.
Then around this time last year in a 10-day span, the franchise made changes in their business plan in front of the NBA world.
- First, Anthony Davis asked for a trade via Rich Paul, who coincidentally is the agent of LeBron James.
- Second, reports were leaked that LeBron’s camp preferred a coaching change.
- Third, the Lakers rumors were so rampant that it wrecked the locker rooms of the Lakers and the New Orleans Pelicans. The Pelicans’ situation got so bad, they fired their GM Dell Demps.
Why bring up last year you ask? Oh, that’s the past you say. What’s the difference you wonder? Lake Show Life makes it plain and simple. Last year the drama was squeezed into less than two weeks with seemingly the entire roster on the trading block.
This year, the drama has already started and there is only one player that will keep getting mentioned for a month. This player happens to be Kyle Kuzma, who will be the star of the next one million Lakers rumors spread out over the next 30 days.
In the offseason, the Lakers unloaded their young players of the future that included Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram and Josh Hart to acquire Anthony Davis. The reports will tell you that the Lakers one exception was to Kyle Kuzma, to build around Davis and LeBron James as their unofficial big three.
The reality is, what saved Kyle Kuzma from packing his bags, was the Lakers got lucky in the NBA lottery and grabbed the 4th pick in the draft to trade instead. So the plan was to keep Kuzma in the fold. Well, until last week.
Reports started to surface that NBA teams were making calls to see if Kyle Kuzma was available. In the beginning, it was believed that Rob Pelinka and the front office were not interested. But as we all know the Lakers rumors won’t stop until the Feb. 6 trade deadline.
Now according to the latest from Sam Amick of The Athletic, the Lakers went from Kuzma being untouchable to at least taking offers, even if a trade doesn’t appear to be likely, for now.
"Will Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka eventually send him packing to upgrade the Lakers’ roster for a title run? As our Shams Charania reported Friday, teams are monitoring his situation and wondering whether he can be had before the Feb. 6 trade deadline. What’s more, sources now say the Lakers have shown a recent willingness to listen to pitches for Kuzma. And … we’re off — sort of. From the Lakers’ perspective, this open-phone-lines approach is merely a case of Pelinka doing due diligence as opposed to having substantive discussions. If only because nothing of real interest has come their way — yet."
But that didn’t stop questions from coming Kuzma’s way from his name floating around the rumor mill.
Kyle Kuzma was asked about the NBA trade deadline coming up right around the corner on Feb. 6 and he said his first two years in the league prepared him on how to handle it. pic.twitter.com/2Sfcx2IJ89
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) January 4, 2020
Kuzma, if traded, will be the third first-round pick of the Lakers to be shown the door inside of a year. This dismissal will be the full announcement of the Lakers’ plans of the win-now mode this year.
Kuzma was drafted 27th a couple of years ago with a pick acquired from the Brooklyn Nets in the D’Angelo Russell deal to unload Timofey Mozgov‘s albatross contract. The Lakers have gotten good returns on that investment, but this season he has struggled to gain the ground lost from his injury suffered this summer with the U.S.A. Olympic team.
Lake Show Life recently did a report of rumored trades that made little sense. Now with Kyle Kuzma in the rumors, let’s take a look at some trade ideas floating around the media circles.