Los Angeles Lakers: Ranking the 3 most valuable trade chips

2. Kyle Kuzma

Kyle Kuzma’s career with the Los Angeles Lakers has been interesting. Kuzma was much better much sooner than anyone expected him to be as a late first-round pick and many thought there was potential for Kuzma to be an actual third scorer on a title-contending team.

It simply was not meant to be as Kuzma has taken a step back over the last two seasons and really has not given the Lakers anything that they couldn’t replace for cheaper. There is still some potential there for Kuzma to be a good scorer in the league but it is not going to happen with the Lakers.

I doubt he ever reaches the all-star potential that he sees himself having but that does not mean he is not valuable.

Any rebuilding team that is not in a position to contend and has a veteran to trade should be calling about Kuzma. Kuzma is the perfect type of player that you can hand the keys of the car to and allow him to take as many shots as he wants.

It will help his development in the league but more importantly, he is not good enough where he will impact a potential tank. Said rebuilding team could either build him up to be part of the future or then trade him for even more value if he blossoms away from LA.

Regardless of where he goes, all signs seem to be pointing to Kuzma being dealt this offseason. He is not as valuable as he was two summers ago but he does still have trade value.