Lakers: The effort to understand the toxicity surrounding Kyle Kuzma

Kyle Kuzma is perhaps the most polarizing player on the Los Angeles Lakers.

Kyle Kuzma is going to be a part of the Los Angeles Lakers’ future for the time being. Kuzma inked a three-year extension on Sunday. But will this extra security calm the toxicity and divisiveness of Lakers Nation? Lake Show Life tries to understand the strange world of Kyle Kuzma, his worth, his role-playing with LeBron James and his love/hate relationship with Lakers fans!

It’s over. Kyle Kuzma will be a part of the Los Angeles Lakers for the immediate future. The most overwritten and analyzed subject not named LeBron James or Anthony Davis will be tabled for the most of us.

The other crowd consisting of Kuzma haters and Lakers conspiracy theorists? Well they will have a “Will be back in 15 minutes” sign in the window and will explain how the extension will open up more options for the trading deadline on March 25, 2021.

Rob Pelinka and the Lakers continued their movements in complete silence, locking up forward Kyle Kuzma to a multiyear extension on Sunday. This was yet another surprise after reports from Kyle Goon of the O.C. Register saying the talks were tabled.

According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the deal covers $40 million over three years with a player option before the 2023-24 season. It was news that LeBron James took to Twitter to show his happiness.

Kyle Kuzma’s deal is a rarity when it comes to the Los Angeles Lakers.

• This is the first time in 12 years, the Los Angeles Lakers have signed a player to a rookie contract extension. 
• Before Kyle Kuzma, the last Lakers draft pick to receive a rookie contract extension from the team was Andrew Bynum.
• Kuz collected a rare non-max rookie extension that included a player option.

Anthony Davis talked about the positives of getting the deal done before the season started via ESPN.

"“I mean, it’s good for him,” teammate Anthony Davis said Sunday. “You don’t have that contract anxiety for the whole year. Now that it’s out of the way, you can go out there and play, which he was doing anyway. He was having a great preseason. He’s been playing great for us in the bubble and all of last year. He’s locked in. He made a great jump on both ends of the floor. “So, it’s good for him. We’re excited to have him here. I know he’s excited to be here. And he’s a champion. You deserve it. I’m glad that the Lakers were able to work something out with him to be able to allow him to just go out there and play and not worry about contracts for the rest of the season.”"

No truer words were spoken based on Kuzma’s performance on Friday night.

• Los Angeles Lakers: Anthony Davis smokes Phoenix Suns, 3 Lessons!

He was so bad covering Devin Booker, that he was benched in the second half being replaced by Wesley Matthews. Lake Show Life staff writer Kevin Germany to his credit (A ton!) actually defended his performance over the weekend. A must-read.

• Defending Kyle Kuzma from Los Angeles Lakers fans!

This closes yet another chapter in Rob Pelinka’s unofficial book, “How To Build a Decade Long Dynasty On a Budget.” While the Utah Jazz dropped a $205 million extension on Rudy Gobert, the Lakers strengthened an already loaded roster at a mere fraction of the cost. What else did they do?

• The deal allows time for the Lakers to continue to monitor Kuzma’s progress to hopefully his prime at 28. Brandon Ingram left and became NBA’s Most Improved Player in New Orleans while Lonzo Ball is believed to be on the cusp of being a good player. This had to be in the back of the front office’s minds.
• The benefit to Kuzma is the security of believing he’s a part of the franchise’s future post-LeBron years.
• For the Lakers, if he outperforms his extension, which starts with the 2021-22 season, it will be a huge bargain. If he doesn’t, well the trade rumors can start again because it’s a salary cap friendly deal to move.

Kyle Kuzma’s career in a Lakers uniform was illustrated in technicolor this preseason. Even though he averaged 22 points a game, it was two games sandwiched between two awful ones. The inconsistent production leads to these opinions like this one from The Athletic’s John Hollinger before the deal was signed.

"With the hard cap constraining their ability to take on money and limited assets to put in trades, the Lakers don’t have a lot of outs if they’re perusing in-season roster upgrades. The biggest one, by far, is Kuzma. After a promising rookie year, the forward’s play has leveled off, to say the least, and at the moment he might be one of the league’s most overrated players."

Why is Kyle Kuzma so polarizing? Why do so many Lakers fans want this guy gone? Is all of the chaos surrounding him fair? Lake Show Life monitored the constant questions (To the point of complaints!) on why this player is in the news about being traded…every other day.

Over the next several pages, Lake Show Life will take fans behind the media wall the best way we can to try to explain how this works and if Kyle Kuzma is worth the trouble!

Kyle Kuzma was one of only two players on the roster that could be traded. Fun fact: The other one got traded! 

The NBA news cycle about trades will always be near two campfires. One, the Los Angeles Lakers and two, any team that has LeBron James on the roster. It’s not just an opinion, it’s an easily researchable fact.

Kyle Kuzma’s trade rumors started as soon as the Los Angeles Lakers started with their conquest to poach Anthony Davis from the New Orleans Pelicans. When he survived the first round of acquisitions, Kuzma was good as gone to many NBA pundits at the trading deadline. Here’s why.

Danny Green and Kyle Kuzma were the only players on the roster that NBA GMs believed could be moved last season. Read what ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said last year.

"The Lakers also have a real problem in a lack of trade assets. They aren’t permitted to trade any first-round pick, and they don’t have a second-round pick available until 2023. They don’t have many tradable pieces, and three tradable players — Rondo, JaVale McGee and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope — have no-trade clauses. Long story short, they have to play the buyout market, and even then, they currently don’t have a roster spot to sign anyone. Their two biggest trade assets, league executives believe, are Kuzma and Danny Green, but both play important roles."

Lake Show Life knew Kyle Kuzma was going nowhere last year. Why? It was close to impossible to fit a one on one deal with a team with Kuz’s $1.9 million contract. Plus, the Lakers were holding out for Andre Iguodala and Darren Collison. But then history teaches us that trade rumors are not always reality.

• Andre Iguodala was traded from Memphis in a deal that included Dion Waiters. (Waiters was immediately waived!).
• Darren Collison stayed retired!
• Rob Pelinka signed Markieff Morris after he was released from the Detroit Pistons.
• Dion Waiters was signed just before the NBA shutdown.
• J.R. Smith was signed just before the NBA restart in the bubble. 
• Danny Green was traded when the free agency season started for Dennis Schroder. 

NBA general managers are required to look at all options to improve their respective rosters for a great price. The Lakers will field calls for anyone on the roster not named LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Just because the rumors were floating around never meant Kuzma’s departure.

Bottom line: Kyle Kuzma is coveted around the league for his upside potential at the price the Lakers were paying him. By the way, other teams can leak false rumors too. How many Alex Caruso for Derrick Rose rumors did you hear around last year’s trade deadline?

• Lakers Rumors: Los Angeles interested in acquiring Derrick Rose
• Lakers rumors: 3 reasons Derrick Rose for Alex Caruso wasn’t happening!

There was only one trade scenario last month that made any sense. Read on to see what it was and when the players were attached.

Kyle Kuzma’s leaked rumors were strongest in a trade deal to Sacramento!

Kyle Kuzma was linked to Bogdan Bogdanovic in many rumors last year. Lake Show Life even covered the bases on a possible deal.

• Los Angeles Lakers Rumors: 3 players connected, for now, to Kyle Kuzma in a trade!

Last year around the trade deadline, the Sacramento Kings offered Nemanja Bjelica and a pick for Kyle Kuzma. Pelinka refused and asked about Bogdan Bogdanovic. The Kings said no. Okay that sounds reasonable enough, Bjelica won’t help, and at the time, Bogdanovic was considered untouchable.

 ESPN’s Zach Lowe breaks down the asking price last year.

"“The Kings should get something good for Bogdanovic — at least a first-round pick. They can wait and see if offers fatten closer to the deadline. At that point, it’s time to decide if the return outweighs the benefits of re-signing Bogdanovic.”"

Fast forward to last month.

When Kings’ GM Vlade Divac resigned from his position this offseason, Bogdan became expendable real quick. The Kings tried to deal him to Milwaukee in a botched deal. Most NBA experts thought the Kings would try to do a sign and trade deal with NBA teams. Here’s a possible Lakers trade scenario.

• The Los Angeles Lakers had just signed Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to a three year, $40 million dollar deal.
• Combine that salary with Kyle Kuzma and JaVale McGee’s, who Pelinka was trying to move, maybe something could be done.

Only these things happened.

• The Sacramento Kings did not match the offer sheet of the Atlanta Hawks letting him walk for nothing.
• JaVale McGee was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Jordan Bell (Waived) and Alfonso McKinnie. 

After those events happened, Kyle Kuzma was safe.

Okay, enough about Kyle Kuzma’s worth in NBA GMs offices around the league. Read on to see Lake Show Life’s analysis of Kyle Kuzma’s early years.

Kyle Kuzma was a 27th pick in the first round but has lottery pick expectations?

To the Los Angeles Lakers fans that seem to hate Kyle Kuzma so much, Lake Show Life has a question?

You do realize that Kyle Kuzma was NOT a lottery pick right?

The Los Angeles Lakers have let go a list of lottery picks that included Julius Randle, Lonzo Ball, D’Angelo Russell and Brandon Ingram. They are all gone, right? Kyle Kuzma was an unknown coming out of Utah.

Then something funny happened. He won the MVP of the Summer league back in 2017.

Kuzma went on to start some games during his rookie season, averaging 16 points and 6 rebounds. What got the fans excited was the 51 percent shooting from the field and especially the 36 percent from 3-point land.

At this time, the Lakers were fully committed to the youth movement under Luke Walton. With a “young core” of Kuzma, Lonzo Ball, and Brandon Ingram fans had a trio of young talent to watch develop.

But then LeBron James showed up. What young team has he stayed with long term for the last decade?

Despite the transition in LeBron’s first year, Kuzma was still a part of the offense. He even won the MVP of the Rising Stars Challenge!

Kuzma’s scoring average and overall shooting increased. The problem that everyone focused on the lack of 3 point shooting. It carried over into last year.

His lack of a consistent role in the offense (Also read: Shots!) was something that he struggled with when Anthony Davis came to town. Lakers media and fans tend to overlook a major factor. Read on to see what that was!  

Kyle Kuzma suffered a hairline fracture playing for the FIBA World Cup team! 

No one ever mentions that Kuzma took part in Team USA’s tryouts leading up to the FIBA World Cup last summer. Kuzma had played well and went from a possible last-minute add to the tryout list to a lock for a roster spot when World Cup play began.

Kuzma suffered a hairline fracture ankle injury that not only kept him off the team but out of training camp, preseason and several early games last season. Then when he started to gain some kind of rhythm on his return, another aggravating injury sidelined him again.

Despite these impressive performances…

• He scored 21 points on the road against the Chicago Bulls soon after his ankle issues.
• Scoring 25 points against the Los Angeles Clippers on Christmas Day.
• Dropping 36 on the road in Oklahoma City against the Thunder without LeBron and AD. 
• 25 points against the Denver Nuggets in the bubble. Plus he hit the game-winner.
• Plus there was steady improvement on his defense.

The problem is, most NBA fans and pundits won’t let this game go. The night he scored 41 points in three quarters.

Plus he is being put in an unfair position of trying to move down the offensive food change adjusting his game while not being fully healthy without the benefit of a training camp to find the groove with so many changes to the roster.

Plus if he can survive his trainer bad-mouthing LeBron James in comparison to Kawhi Leonard…

• Los Angeles Lakers Rumors: Kyle Kuzma’s trainer allegedly calls out LeBron James!

He can survive most anything.

Lake Show life broke down the difficulties that Kevin Love and Chris Bosh went through in the past. Let’s talk about modern times. His game was compared to a player in Boston, but if you compare his production to his teammate, you might see things clearer. Read on to discuss a couple of Celtics!

Remember when Kyle Kuzma was being compared (Favorably!) to Jayson Tatum!

Some Lakers fans always seem to give Kyle Kuzma a hard time. How about Jayson Tatum’s first three years in the NBA? Those first two years when a certain point guard named Kyrie Irving was a major impact on his play. Tatum’s growth in his rookie year was astounding!

But it was when Kyrie Irving was lost for the playoffs with an injury, the young players for the Celtics took off pushing a LeBron James led Cleveland Cavaliers team to a possible Game 7 elimination. After that series, Tatum was considered a budding superstar.

Then he went off to get mentoring from the late “Icon” Kobe Bryant. It was believed when Tatum got together with Irving, Boston was supposed to make the NBA Finals. Well, it didn’t work out that way. Tatum struggled with the ball-dominant Kyrie and started getting criticism for not matching expectations.

Soon as Kyrie exits, Tatum’s high level of play returned. He’s considered a star again and got a max-level extension. Pundits will continue to compare the two (Why? Who knows?). but the real comparison should be Marcus Smart.

Marcus Smart signed a four year, $51,999,900 extension with the Celtics, including $50,000,000 guaranteed, a while back. The contract stretches out to an annual average salary of $12,999,975.

Now let’s compare Kuzma’s deal. $40 million may sound like a lot to non-Kuzma fans, but $13.3 million a year at this moment in time (Especially with the financial issues due to the pandemic!), plus look at the stats comparison…

Marcus Smart:

Last year: 60 games,12.9 points, 3.8 rebounds, 4.9 assists. FG: 37.5 percent, 3 point FG: 34.7 percent, FT: 83.6 percent. 

Career: 401 games, 9.9 points, 3.6 rebounds, 4 assists. FG: 37.3 percent, 3-point FG: 31.8 percent, FT: 77.5 percent.

Kyle Kuzma:

Last year: 61 games, 12.8 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1.3 assists. FG: 43.6 percent, 3-point FG: 31.6 percent, FT: 73.5 percent.

Career: 208 games 16.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, 1.9 assists. FG: 44.9 percent, 3-point FG: 33.1 percent, FT: 73.2 percent.

But watch Boston Celtics games and you will hear time and time again that Marcus Smart is the heart and soul of the team. The Lakers do not need that from Kyle Kuzma, but as you can see he is shooting better and averaging more points. Marcus Smart is being celebrated.

How come Kuzma gets the same?

Bottom line, this is yet another outstanding deal for the Lakers.

• For both parties, this is basically kicking the can down the road to see if he does deserve a huge max deal that Kuzma desires.
• It links up to the summer of 2023 when LeBron James’ current deal expires.
• There is now a certainty in the team’s long-term planning based around the extensions for James and Anthony Davis.

Now that Lake Show Life has analyzed from all angles, read on to see what the opinion of Kyle Kuzma’s future.

Kyle Kuzma is not going anywhere. He never was. Rob Pelinka drafted him and Kobe Bryant believed in him.

Will this article stop the Kyle Kuzma trade rumors? No. But this writer has written articles for over a year on record saying he was staying put. Sure the salary was a major issue that made it easy, but let’s look at some people that were in Kuz’s corner.

Rob Pelinka:

Pelinka drafted him. For the most part, outside of making a few questionable quotes to the media like this doozy.

The steady improvement has been there. The Lakers love his work ethic and believe they will see strides now that he can look at his phone without seeing potential rumors every hour on the hour. Plus with the consistent support of the other young players such as Alex Caruso and Talen Horton-Tucker, Pelinka is loyal to who the scouts bring to his attention.

Kobe Bryant:

Yes, like Jayson Tatum, Kyle Kuzma was mentored by the “Icon”. Bryant had an interview on Real 92.3 LA’s “The Cruz Show,” and discussed why the Lakers had a tough time letting Kyle go in the Anthony Davis trade.

"“Probably his versatility. I think the game used to be about having specialists on the floor and think it’s gotten away from that to having guys that can play all facets of the game. That includes offensively and defensively, and defensively he has the potential to be a great defensive player, so I think that’s one things they looked at as well as his shooting ability and just his size. I think you put all that in the pot and it made him indispensable for this summer.”"

Jeanie Buss:

Always liked Kyle Kuzma. She’s the boss. Next.

The contract will be polarizing because Kyle Kuzma is polarizing not just on this site, but for some Lakers fans in general. There is just a faction of Lakers Nation that believes “cyber bullying” on the internet will get players to play better. Let’s be honest, most are jealous. He’s a young kid in Los Angeles living the dream of playing with the Lakers. Popularity breeds content.

Congratulations to Kyle Kuzma on getting the bag. Make sure you pay for that dinner with LeBron, and congrats to Rob Pelinka for showing that this franchise continues to play chess while every other team is playing checkers.

For the rest of the Kyle Kuzma haters. Kuz has something to say!