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Kyle Kuzma shows his Lakers roots, fires back at Patrick Beverley

Jason Reed|
WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 18: Kyle Kuzma #33 of the Washington Wizards handles the ball against Keegan Murray #13 of the Sacramento Kings at Capital One Arena on March 18, 2023 in Washington, DC. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by G Fiume/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 18: Kyle Kuzma #33 of the Washington Wizards handles the ball against Keegan Murray #13 of the Sacramento Kings at Capital One Arena on March 18, 2023 in Washington, DC. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by G Fiume/Getty Images)

Kyle Kuzma and Patrick Beverley have the shared experience of being former members of the Los Angeles Lakers and getting traded from the team. Kuzma was part of the ill-advised Russell Westbrook trade while Beverley quickly flamed out in Los Angeles and was traded this year at the deadline for Mo Bamba.

Beverley has been on a bit of an anti-Lakers PR campaign since he signed with the Chicago Bulls after being bought out by the Orlando Magic. Beverley has made it known that he wants to keep his former team from making the playoffs and helped do so on Sunday by beating LA and taunting LeBron James in the process.

Kuzma does not have the same energy and is not afraid to clap back at Beverley if he says something absurd that has Kuzma in the crosshairs. That is exactly what happened when Kuzma quickly shut Beverley down when tried playing revisionist history with the Clippers.

Kyle Kuzma fires back at Patrick Beverley’s absurd Lakers-Clippers comment.

Ah, three years later and we are still blaming the Orlando bubble? Yes, it was unconventional and was the weirdest NBA Finals in league history. But you could make the case that this put the Lakers at a disadvantage and they still managed to win the entire thing.

The Clippers blew a 3-1 lead. Plain and simple. Beverley can try to blame it on the bubble all he wants but the fact of the matter is that they shrunk when it mattered most. The Lakers, meanwhile, steamrolled through the NBA Playoffs as a true title contender does.

It isn’t like the Lakers were a sixth seed that benefitted from the time off and got hot at the perfect time. They were the top team in the Western Conference and lost a huge advantage in having to play in the bubble.

Home-court advantage is extremely advantageous and the purple and gold lost that advantage. Let’s say in a non-bubble world that the Clippers wouldn’t have collapsed and would have faced the Lakers in the Western Conference. What happens then?

The purple and gold would have had seven home games in LA as Lakers fans would have warned to every single game, even those dubbed as Clippers home games. The bubble gave Patrick Beverley and co. the chance to avoid that disadvantage and they still blew it.

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