Los Angeles Lakers’ most tradeable players: 1. Kyle Kuzma
If you follow the Los Angeles Lakers at all online then you already know the narratives surrounding a potential Kyle Kuzma trade. He is someone who was seemingly on the market during the NBA Trade Deadline but ultimately was not moved as the right deal did not present itself.
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Kuzma is a talented young player as well that could absolutely be the third or fourth scoring option on a contending team, which he is now. The problem with Kuzma on the Lakers is that his fit with the team is like putting a square peg in a round hole.
The Lakers are already deep at the position with LeBron and Anthony Davis and that is reflected by Kuzma posting the lowest minutes played of his career.
Style-wise he is not a great fit, either. He has not taken the steps in his three-point shooting that the Lakers hoped he would and if anything has taken a step backward. He is shooting 29.7 percent from beyond the arc this season.
He is not a good defender, either. It would be better to have a solid wing-defending forward out there instead of Kuzma to help against teams with two good wings, such as the Los Angeles Clippers or Boston Celtics.
There is also a common misconception about Kuzma that by trading him the team is trading away their youth and the future of the franchise. Kuzma is going to be a restricted free agent after the 2020-2021 season.
While the Lakers do have Bird Rights to utilize with him, the team will have two big contracts in LeBron and AD and it very well could be a situation like Julius Randle where the team does not capitalize and trade him while they had the chance and he signs elsewhere on a deal that the Lakers do not want to match.
This season was Kuzma’s chance to prove that he fits in this rotation, and he has not done that. Maybe you could make the case to hold off until next trade deadline if a deal does not arise over the offseason but either way, he is easily the Los Angeles Lakers’ most tradeable player.