What are the chances that Kyle Kuzma steps up big in the playoffs and helps the Los Angeles Lakers win a championship?
Last summer, the Los Angeles Lakers‘ front office dealt ¾ of the young core—Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, and Josh Hart—to the Pelicans for Anthony Davis. Most Lakers fans were ecstatic with the news primarily because AD was coming to town, but also because Rob Pelinka “managed” to keep Kyle Kuzma on the squad.
After the trade, the Kyle Kuzma hype-train started on its slow cruise to Hypesville. First, Kyle Kuzma was spotted talking with Kobe Bryant about increasing his skill level on the court. A few days later, “Kuz” hired renowned shooting coach, “Lethal Shooter,” to help him fix his janky jumper.
Then the video clips started to pop up on the internet. Lakers fans saw Kuzma’s new and improved physique (thanks to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson), and later in the summer, we witnessed “Kuz’s” new shooting stroke.
At the same time, Kyle Kuzma was trying to hypnotize Lakers fans with his excellent internet marketing campaign, Brandon Ingram was toiling away in the shadows. Ingram didn’t meet with former NBA superstars. He didn’t hire a new shooting coach. He didn’t increase his arm size by three inches. And he didn’t post-practice videos on the internet. Brandon Ingram just grinded.
The season started, and Kyle Kuzma’s blast off towards stardom—the one promised to us through the internet— never happened. Instead, Kyle Kuzma sat out his first four games of the year.
When he finally saw his first action during the Lakers’ fifth game against the Dallas Mavericks, he missed all of his three-point attempts, played uninspired defense, and finished the game with a -6 plus/minus rating. Kyle Kuzma went on to struggle immensely during the 2019-2020 season, vacillating from mildly disappointing to downright awful.
Brandon Ingram, on the other hand, did blast off this season. He’s averaging 24 PPG, 6 RPG, 4 APG while shooting 39 percent from deep off of six attempts per game. He also made his first All-Star game at the tender age of 22.
Here we are with a little over a week away from the 2020 season restart in Orlando. We know that former Laker, Brandon Ingram, the player who was jettisoned away without even a whimper of sadness from Lakers Nation, is a rising star in the NBA.
It’s also clear that he’ll perform well for the Pelicans as they hunt for a playoff berth. However, we have no idea what we’re going to get from Kyle Kuzma, the hyped-up chosen member of the former young core.
We’ll show Kyle Kuzma’s strengths and weaknesses and then decide if he can be a factor for the Lakers during the 2020 playoffs.