The Los Angeles Lakers search for one more wing that can take this roster over the top, should their pursuit of Jonathan Kuminga fail to materialize into anything tangible, could lead to them going so far as to pursue a reunion with Milwaukee Bucks forward Kyle Kuzma. Not everyone seems to be on board with that idea.
Jovan Buha named Denver Nuggets wing Cameron Johnson as his top MLE wing target for the Lakers, which makes sense given his deadeye 3-point shooting. Kuzma wasn't even able to claim the silver medal in this hypothetical race, as Buha named De'Andre Hunter as someone he would take over Kuzma.
Kuzma is a valuable player due to his scoring, and a rebuilding Bucks team that is going all-in on a rebuild around the Giannis Antetokounmpo trade package and two 2026 lottery picks might be willing to trade him. However, if he doesn't accept a reduced role, the Lakers and other contenders in the league may not be interested in him.
Jovan Buha isn't too excited about Lakers possibly adding Kyle Kuzma
Kuzma, who just turned 31 years old, averaged 13.0 points and 4.5 rebounds per game last season. While that is certainly not terrible production, those numbers came on a Bucks team that waived the white flag amid the Giannis trade saga. His 49% field goal percentage and 35% 3-point percentage were not far off from his career averages.
Kuzma is entering the fourth phase of his career. After surviving oodles of trades and becoming a quality tertiary bucket-getter for a champion Lakers team, Kuzma became a consistent high-end scorer on some wretched Washington Wizards teams. Milwaukee tried to make him a microwave scorer with defensive flaws Giannis and others could hide, but that didn't go according to plan.
Kuzma may not make a ton of sense for this Lakers roster beyond being a memorable name who can get hot for short stretches. His skill set overlaps too much with that of free agent signing Sandro Mamukelashvili, and his poor success rate on movement catch-and-shoot 3-pointers is worse than that of Quentin Grimes.
Lacking Johnson's 43% 3-point rate that would make him ideal as a Luka Doncic kick-out target and Hunter's sterling defense, Kuzma doesn't make sense for the Lakers at this juncture. Given his age and how last year in Milwaukee went, there's a good chance that Kuzma is going to find joining a contender hard if he doesn't change his style.
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