As the Los Angeles Lakers prepare for a quick two-game road trip, Kyle Kuzma must step up with Anthony Davis out.
The Los Angeles Lakers were able to secure an easy win against the New York Knicks earlier this week. However, in the win, the Lakers did see their star big man Anthony Davis take a hard fall flat on his back.
Luckily for the Lakers and Davis, both the MRI and X-Rays came back clean, so nothing major happened to Davis. However, he will be out the next couple of games in order to get back to 100 percent.
In the meantime, the Lakers will be hitting the road for a two-game road trip against the Dallas Mavericks and the Oklahoma City Thunder. With both of these teams doing quite well in the Western Conference, the Lakers would surely like to pick up a couple more wins on teams below them.
However, without Davis, the Lakers are going to need someone to step up. The one player that needs to improve his play with Davis out is obviously, Kyle Kuzma.
It has not been a good third year in the NBA for Kuzma at all. This summer, it looked like Kuzma was going to be taking a big step forward, as he was invited to be part of Team USA. However, Kuzma injured his lower leg, and that cost him to miss the entire preseason and training camp with the Lakers.
Coming into the season a bit rusty after missing so much time, Kuzma has yet to find his role on the Lakers. However, with Davis out, Kuzma will clearly have to pick up his scoring output, which he is certainly capable of.
In his first two seasons, Kuzma was averaging just under 20 points per game, but we have seen that number drop to just 12 points per game. In addition to the points per game going down, so has Kuzma’s minutes.
With Davis out, Kuzma’s minutes will have to go up and so must his production. After being a disappointment so far this season, Kuzma will have a chance to find his groove as the second option to James.
As trade rumors swirl, hopefully Kuzma will be able to stay focused and make the most of this opportunity. If he can find his groove, it could drastically change the trade rumors surrounding him.