Kyle Kuzma was included in the blockbuster trade that landed Russell Westbrook on the Los Angeles Lakers. The Kuzma trade rumors were relevant for years and the move was finally made to give the Lakers a third star.
Westbrook has been struggling as a member of the Lakers. His advanced stats are terrifying and the fit alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis is a huge work in progress. While concerning, it is made better by the fact that the Lakers did not really trade anything hugely impactful away.
Kuzma was the most valuable piece in the trade because of his age and the idea of his potential; a potential that was seemingly untapped in the Lakers with the spotlight on Anthony Davis and LeBron James in town.
After all, Kuzma’s numbers went down as soon as LeBron arrived. It is easy to talk yourself into Kuzma’s potential if he is put on a team where he is given more room to grow.
The Wizards present that opportunity. While the team has Bradley Beal, the frontcourt minutes are Kuzma’s for the taking and it is no surprise that he is playing the second-most minutes per game.
It seems to be the perfect scenario for Kuzma to thrive, right? While the sample size is small, he has not been thriving and is proving why he had no future with the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Los Angeles Lakers are not missing much in Kyle Kuzma.
If you just look at the counting stats you would think that Kyle Kuzma has upped his game. Kuzma is averaging 13.8 points, 11.8 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game. The scoring is around the same but he has upped his rebounding and passing production.
The problem is that Kuzma is shooting shots like they are going out of style and is not shooting efficiently whatsoever. The former Lakers is shooting 40.4% from the field, 29.6% from beyond the arc and 50% from the free-throw line.
In the small sample size, Kuzma has an astonishingly low 48.1% effective field goal percentage, which considers the fact that threes are worth more than twos which are worth more than ones. The lowest eFG% that Kuzma has posted in his career in a season is 50% exactly.
While it is a small sample size and Kuzma could absolutely right the ship, he hasn’t earned the benefit of the doubt in his career. At some point, you are who you are in this league and five years in at the age of 26 it is safe to say that Kuzma is who he is. Adding more shots to his plate isn’t going to make him better, it is just going to make him worse.
Kuzma is fine if he is on a bad team and can put up garbage-time stats and he is a good option if he is the seventh or eighth-best player on a contending team. He is nowhere close to being the third-best player on a title-contending team, and quite frankly, didn’t add anything special to the Lakers that any other mediocre rotation player could add.
He had a lot of potential after his rookie year because he was able to put up garbage time stats on a bad team. The Lakers are no longer a bad team and Kuzma was no longer needed. This start proves that.