Los Angeles Lakers Rumors: How Kyle Kuzma can survive the trading block

Kyle Kuzma is becoming the primary definition of how cold the NBA can be. In the summer, Kuzma was penciled in a major part of the Lakers’ future. Six months later, injuries, inconsistent minutes and play has Kuzma on the trade block in Lakers rumors. Lake Show Life explains how Kyle Kuzma can survive being the next young Lakers outcast. 

Los Angeles Lakers rumors have been plentiful involving the last remaining piece of the team’s young core.

If you thought Kyle Kuzma would be back in the same situation that he faced last year, most would have laughed in your face. After he was spared in the multi-player deal to bring Anthony Davis into the fold, big plans were made for Kyle Kuzma. He was one of the pieces to make the transition post -LeBron retirement into the future ahead.

Reports had him considered untouchable. He was an odds on favorite to make Team USA this past summer for the FIBA World Cup. Gregg Popovich had given him high praise for his hard work in camp. The sky’s the limit, right?

Then his injury over the summer changed everything. An ankle injury that turned into a stress reaction hurt his chances to compete for the national team.

Then Kuzma had to sit and watch while his teammates were getting acclimated in a shorter preseason than in previous years. To make things even more difficult for him, the Lakers were building a system on both ends of the floor to figure out and be fit into later.

At the time, Kuzma’s place in the rotation was solidified. There was a starting spot waiting for him when he got healthy. The worst-case scenario would have him coming off the bench as the sixth man, getting significant minutes (Also read: Scoring opportunities!) and close the games out in crunch time in the fourth quarter.

Up until recently, Kyle Kuzma was in the NBA news cycle for different reasons that have nothing to do with his play. For weeks his blonde hairstyle and “wardrobe” were getting more attention than the production he was putting out on the court.

Actually the low point was when Shannon Sharpe put out a joke about Kuz’s hair on Twitter. What was worse, his mother took to social media to respond.

https://twitter.com/ShannonSharpe/status/1215352105499684864

Well based on the statistics Kyle Kuzma put up in the four-game stretch when everyone was making jokes about comparing Kuzma’s hairstyle to Eminem (Aka Slim Shady) to Amber Rose (No kidding here!), Kuzma was well, bad.

Kuz was averaging 8.3 points on an atrocious 27% shooting. His 3-point percentage was worse, shooting at a 26.3% clip. Some of the rumors were normal, based on the fact that it comes with the job playing on the Lakers or a LeBron James team. Most of it was because, Kuzma was not living up to expectations of anyone involved, including Kyle himself.

Then Kyle Kuzma got a lifeline of sorts when Anthony Davis injured his back last week against the Knicks. At the time, Kuzma’s tenure was on shaky ground.

Even if Kuzma played well, at the time Jalen Rose broke down what the two scenarios that could happen.

As you can see here, there’s yet another scenario about Kyle Kuzma being traded. With AD being out, it’s a great chance for the Lakers to showcase the asset that the NBA covets in their potential star for a player and high draft pick.

Then last weekend happened. Kyle Kuzma decided to go on a two-game stretch that in some discussions saved Kuzma’s locker through Feb. 6th. It was easily his best stretch in his career.

Look, Lakers fans are probably tired of hearing scenarios that have Kyle Kuzma on a plane to teams that have no chance of getting him. Lake Show Life has stated time and time again Kuz is not going anywhere.  Now it seems that his availability is not confirmed. Now there is confusion on if Kuzma is on the trading block or not.

In the most recent episode of “Brian Windhorst and The Hoop Collective,” Windhorst said that whether or not Kuzma is on the trade block has been dependent on who’s asked.

"“Kuzma is their best trade asset and I’m just going to say, there’s conflicting information out there about him. I’ve talked to three or four different teams who told me ‘Kyle Kuzma is available for trade. He can be had.’ There have been reports elsewhere and other people elsewhere have said that the Lakers have indicated they do not want to trade him.”"

Before we get into all aspects of Kyle Kuzma, Rob Pelinka continues to put up reasons why he is running circles around NBA front offices. It is stunning how he has turned the Lakers’ front office around.

His promotion to VP of Basketball Operations might not be enough. How about President? After last year, when every move was seemingly leaked, good luck getting the Lakers to tell you what day it is. Their moves and intentions are guarded like Fort Knox.

With every outlet talking about Kuzma leaving, Lake Show Life will do an in-depth piece on how Kyle Kuzma can stay in a Lakers uniform. Sure, he will be around for the rest of the season. But in the offseason, that’s another story. Let’s look back at the last three games because it’s a microcosm of his inconsistent career.

Kyle Kuzma started strong and faded in the second half. Something that has happened this year consistently. 

With Anthony Davis out of the lineup, Kyle Kuzma knew as the second scoring option he would get opportunities to shoot and took advantage. After the 1st quarter, Kuzma was leading everyone in the building in scoring with 11 points.

No AD in the middle allowed Kuz to be the aggressive slasher that gets him buckets.

https://twitter.com/Lakers/status/1215835376457093120

With Kuz breaking the starting lineup, he spent more time playing with LeBron James as opposed to Rajon Rondo (A huge difference that will be discussed later!). Kuzma looked comfortable and played in the flow of the offense. He rocked the Mavericks with 21 points in the first half.

However, Kuzma didn’t continue his surge and only finished with 26 points. He missed open 3-point shots that allowed Dallas back into the game. One was an air-ball from the left corner.

This game was reminiscent of the Clippers game on Christmas Day and the Portland game that started the current winning streak. He would come out on fire and fade late. Lake Show Life was critical of Frank Vogel after the Clippers game but over time, it has shown that Vogel saw the holes earlier than everyone else.

The game is a microcosm of the division on what to do with Kuzma going forward. He has to be able to perform at a high level consistently to solidify his spot as the third guy for the Los Angeles Lakers.

This is about a win-now culture for this team. Anthony Davis and LeBron James are the main guys that will get the shots. Kuz has to be more efficient on a consistent basis. But he really showed out the next game.

Kyle Kuzma had a career night, but allowed Lake Show Life to finally understand where he needs to grow!

Kyle Kuzma took a different approach in the Oklahoma City Thunder game. He punished them all game long. He reminded everyone what’s his best skill set. Getting buckets and getting them in bunches.

Kuzma strolled into OKC and came out again on fire scoring 23 points in the first half. The difference between this game was he contributed in the second half. When the Thunder made runs, Kuzma made shots to stem the tide, scoring a season-high 36 points in 40 minutes.

For the people scoring at home, in back to back games, Kuzma scored 62 points with an amazing stat of zero turnovers. Now, this is the best-case scenario of Kuzma’s game. Let’s flip the script and show what’s the worst?

What will be the contribution as the third option? This performance was done without LeBron and AD. The Lakers need to know what they are getting with the superstars in the lineup. Playmaking is at the top of the list. In the two games, Kuzma had only two assists.

Kyle Kuzma made a strong statement that Lakers fans will remember to Allie Clifton of Spectrum SportsNet after the Dallas victory. Something about minutes coinciding with his great play for these two games.

Well, Kyle Kuzma got more minutes against Cleveland. What ground he made in the previous games, got sliced on Monday night.

The game against Cleveland Cavaliers showed holes in Kyle Kuzma’s game. 

With young NBA players, sometimes they allow their offense to dictate their overall game. If this game wasn’t a great example, nothing will convince you. Kyle Kuzma’s weaknesses were finally exposed.

When Kuzma missed his first six shots of the game, he started to press and rush, not allowing the game to come to him. Sure he will make the highlights with this buzzer-beater to end the 1st quarter.

https://twitter.com/Lakers/status/1216936377318694913

But Kuzma will have to grow as a playmaker. He’s going to have to make the connection that he can contribute in more ways than just scoring. He is struggling at times making reads in the half-court and it’s starting to weigh on his teammates. JaVale McGee let him have it when he decided against an easy lob for a more difficult shot.

These are plays that his teammates, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Alex Caruso are reading correctly time and time again. Kyle Kuzma has to understand the NBA game by balancing scoring and playmaking.

Kyle Kuzma came back to Earth with just 11 points while missing all of his shots from behind the 3-point line. Not a good look when Dwight Howard has one and he doesn’t.

Even though Kyle Kuzma deserves the lion’s share of the blame, there’s an underlying problem.

Kyle Kuzma’s drop in production correlates directly with when Rajon Rondo is on the floor. 

For all the Lakers fans that saw the Oklahoma City game, Lake Show Life will allow you a few seconds to roll your eyes. Okay done? Let’s continue. Sure, they both played out of their minds together. But let’s just say that there was a lot of motivation.

There are not many Lakers fans that thought the team had a chance with LeBron being out with a cold and AD’s back injury. With all of the moves being looked at in the front office, let’s just say Rajon Rondo and Kyle Kuzma have the most to lose.

Per ESPN’s Dave McMenamin, some of the players stayed up until five in the morning in their OKC hotel and just talked about basketball. That group included Kyle Kuzma and Rajon Rondo.

Along with Kuzma’s nuclear offensive explosion, Rajon Rondo played well finishing two assists shy of a triple-double. His totals of 21 points, 12 rebounds, and eight assists capped off his best performance since Christmas Day, OF LAST YEAR!

Let’s take a look at the difference between this game and the rest of the season. In this game, both players started. Usually, both are bench players. Hence the major problem with how Kuzma struggles while playing with Rondo.

Kuz averages around 24 minutes a night and two-thirds of his minutes come with Rondo on the floor.  The roster has been affected not having a shot creator behind the NBA’s assist leader. Kyle has been affected the most.

Let’s look at the seven games Kuzma played after his second ankle injury. With Rajon Rondo on the court, he’s shot an ice-cold 25% from 3 point range with Rondo on the court as opposed to 38% when Rondo’s off it. Up until that point, Kuzma had a +17 plus/minus ratio when he plays with LeBron and falls off the efficiency cliff (-11.5) when he’s not.

Furthermore, Rajon Rondo has been woefully inefficient. He has taken a step back as a shooter which negates the Lakers floor spacing. Defensively? PFFT! Stop, please. It dissolves like a sandcastle in the Pacific Ocean.

Sure he gets assists that look like nice reads but think of who those passes go to. The stars. Most of the time he’s off-target with his passes to the other players leading to a turnover percentage of 22%.

To the people who have issues with LeBron running the point guard spot, feel free to convince Kyle Kuzma of someone better.

But these recent games are not going to be the norm for Kuzma or the Los Angeles Lakers. Anthony Davis will be back soon and Kyle Kuzma will be back on the bench with the responsibility of being the third guy.

Lake Show Life will help out everyone involved.

Kyle Kuzma, please ask LeBron James for Chris Bosh’s phone number or fly him into Staples to give advice!

Is this a fair situation for a 3rd-year player being counted on for major production on a championship team? No. Is it fair for said player to figure out how to play with two superstars? No. Is it fair for that player to adjust his game from what has worked throughout his career to mesh with LeBron James to make him effective? No.

But this is not Kyle Kuzma’s reality. Lake Show Life is not going to waste time rehashing how hard it is to play with LeBron James without losing your identity. This is about the future of Kyle Kuzma dealing with this challenge.

Who is better to ask than an NBA Hall of Famer, Chris Bosh, the undisputed blueprint of dealing with these adjustments. Everyone talks of Anthony Davis being the best player LeBron has ever played with. Chris Bosh was the player that made the most sacrifices in Miami to get LeBron championship gold.

Bosh will go down as one of the “Big 3” in Miami. People will always forget that this guy was a franchise double-double machine with the Toronto Raptors with all the shots of being the first option. Down in Miami, he was the third option with a shift from power forward to a stretch 5 to open the lane for LeBron.

Check out what he said to Bleacher Report’s Ethan Skolnick of his difficulties being a part of Miami’s big three along with Dwyane Wade years ago.

"“Yeah, it’s  a lot more difficult taking a step back because you’re used to doing something a certain way and getting looks a certain way. And then it’s like, well, no for the benefit of the team, you have to get it here.” “‘You’ve got to do this! You’ve got to do that!’ So you’ve got to fight that. ‘Why don’t you do this? Well, you should do this!’ It’s like, man, they don’t need me to do that, I know what I’m doing. ‘Well, you should do this.’ And then eventually, on one of those days, all it takes is one time, well, maybe I should be doing this. It’s such a psychological battle.”"

Now we have to understand this is an 11-time All-Star having trouble adjusting to life with LeBron. Think about what Kuz is dealing with and he hasn’t figured out the NBA game yet.

Chris Bosh is retired. Kyle needs to find Bosh’s number (Last I checked, LeBron might have it!) and establish a mentoring relationship.

Let’s check out the rewards of Bosh’s adjustments.

Four Finals appearances and two championships.

One of those Finals wins against San Antonio, he collaborated with Ray Allen to save in one of the most clutch plays in Finals history in Game 6. Then he proceeded to dominate overtime. Danny Green knows how well he played.

You thought Kyle Kuzma has it bad. Think about the private hell Kevin Love went through!  

Has anyone noticed that LeBron James LOVES throwing full-court passes to Anthony Davis that leads to dunks? If you thought LeBron invented it, this is a sad day for NBA purists everywhere. Step your documentary game up quickly.

That pass was invented by Wes Unseld and Kevin Love brought it into the millennial era.

When LeBron James left Miami, Love was specifically targeted by LeBron form “Big 3 Northwest” with Kyrie Irving. Now Kevin Love was a franchise player like Chris Bosh in Minnesota.

His stats were so ridiculous the TNT crew would have heated arguments about his All-Star status because the Timberwolves barely broke 25 wins. Even then he was at the time the best power forward in the NBA. In Cleveland, he went from star to being the goat (Not the Alex Caruso reference!).

The Cleveland Cavaliers dealt their two previous number one picks that the Cavs were building their future on to appease James. Sound familiar here?

Then, the Cavs signed Love to a max deal that at times they were rumored to trade (Does any of this sound familiar?) over the next three years. At the lowest point, he was rumored to be traded for, wait for it, Ryan Anderson!

Brian Windhorst discussed on Business Insider Love’s four years with LeBron as difficult but how Kevin saw it in his opinion.

"“There have been so many days and nights where Kevin Love has walked out of a building feeling beleaguered or beaten down either directly because of LeBron” or indirectly. “I have to give Kevin a real major hat tip for being a professional and being an adult about it,” Windhorst said. “He has always seen the big picture … He has always maintained that this is all worth it, that playing in these late games — I mean, this is a guy who played for six years, whatever it was, never sniffed the playoffs. He’s like: ‘This is where I’m at right now. This is the charge for playing with [James].'”"

Let’s check out the rewards for Kevin Love’s adjustments.

Four Finals appearances and one championship.

Do you think Kevin Love misses those days of playing with LeBron? Well, they say a picture is worth a thousand words.

https://twitter.com/YahooSportsNBA/status/1213653167679762432

Believe it or not, Kyle Kuzma can gain inspiration from the other team across the hall, they have two players that Kuzma can learn from.

Montrezl Harrell and Lou Williams have made bench play profitable in the NBA!

Kyle Kuzma had better enjoy the starting lineup while he can. When AD recovers, the bench will be waiting for Kuz. Look, it’s obvious that Kuz sees this as a slight. But in a winning culture with an NBA title on the line, it really is not.

Besides the Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference, the Lakers’ only real competition in the postseason is the Los Angeles Clippers. Many people believe (Writer included!) that the Clippers have the edge over the Lakers to get to the NBA Finals despite what the records say at this point.

Why?

The Clippers have a deep bench featuring Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell. Let’s take a look at the positives Kuzma can draw on.

Lou Williams: 

Lou Williams just set an NBA record for scoring coming off the bench last week. As of this writing, Sweet Lou is over 14,000 points and counting. Williams is averaging 19 points a game this year coming off the bench.

Sure with numbers like these, Williams could start, but he and the Clippers know that he can get a rhythm scoring against the second unit. Then when the 4th quarter hits, he finishes the game with the starters. This is the role the Lakers want for Kuzma.

Montrezl Harrell:

Yes, Lakers fans the Clippers have TWO players averaging 19 points a game coming off the bench. That’s why it’s laughable that Lakers fans talk slick about Patrick Beverley‘s scoring stats. They don’t need his scoring.

While Williams gets his points by efficient scoring from the field and knocking down nearly 90% of his free throws, Harrell brings energy and hard work playing off the superstars, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.

Frank Vogel would love for his young player to find a proper balance between these two players and boost the Lakers bench.

This is not a demotion at all. It’s finding the right players to sacrifice their games for the betterment of the team. There are too many players on the roster that have done this. Dwight Howard, JaVale McGee, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (Remember how hot he was when Avery Bradley was out?), Danny Green and especially Jared Dudley.

There are too many examples of sacrifice for Kyle Kuzma not to fall in line in this situation.

Lake Show Life stated Kuzma will not be traded at the deadline. Nobody said he wouldn’t be AFTER the season. 

Lake Show Life will again state that Kyle Kuzma will be in a Lakers uniform next month. If you need a refresher course on our beliefs please do here. But Lake Show Life never said that he couldn’t be traded after the season.

The Lakers’ front office will have more cap flexibility to make moves in the offseason (Remember Luol Deng‘s contract on the books? One less year baby!) to bolster the roster.

Troy Daniels, Jared Dudley and Dwight Howard are on expiring contracts. Rob Pelinka will have a ton of options that he doesn’t have as of this writing. The $1.9 million Kuz is making that will bail him out now won’t be there in six months.

He’s got to figure it out. Brian Shaw who was on Luke Walton‘s staff made a strong statement on Yahoo Sports’ digital show “The Bounce”.

"“I’ll tell any other young Lakers out there, don’t make the mistake Kyle Kuzma’s team did and have your trainer say anything about gm LeBron James,” Shaw said. “I know Rich Paul was trying to sign him when he left his agent last year and he didn’t sign with Rich Paul. So when you don’t sign with Rich Paul and your trainer comes out and says Kawhi was giving it to LeBron, you’re going to be out of there.”"

Lake Show Life has its own opinion on the trainer. But the fact remains that Shaw does have a point. LeBron sees the NBA as a series of partnerships. It would have been smart to sign with Rich Paul. He does take care of his clients (Do you really think KCP would be in a Lakers uniform without Rich Paul?).

Kyle Kuzma is in the middle of an audition for his future. Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball and Josh hart survived the deadline last year, six months later they were gone.

Time for Kyle Kuzma to grow up, quick.