Kyle Kuzma was one of the few trading chips the Los Angeles Lakers had in the off-season. Their only other tradable assets were Danny Green’s $ 15 million contract expiring and No. 28 pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, both of which were sent to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for Dennis Schröder.
Unless the Lakers find a deal for Kuzma within a week, he’ll be on their opening night roster, something an anonymous manager who recently spoke to The Athletic’s Sam Amick didn’t expect:
I’m surprised (fourth-year attacker Kyle) Kuzma is still on the selection. I thought they were going to move him … because of chemistry.
The anonymous NBA manager ignored the ambiguous comment about “ chemistry stuff ” and was not surprised to think that Kuzma would now be on a different team.
As much as he grew in some areas last season – especially in defense – he wasn’t the Lakers’ third star like him and so many people expected him to be, nor was he their third best player. Plus, he didn’t play his role as a high-energy defensive wing well enough to be considered untouchable in the off-season, and that was true even when you consider his low salary.
However, now that the Lakers have allotted tons of cap space to LeBron James and Anthony Davis for the 2021-22 season and beyond, trading Kuzma isn’t something they should consider – at least not before signing a new contract. Even then, it would be in the Lakers’ best interests to wait and see what Kuzma will look like with this new group of players.
Kuzma looked great next to a game center at Marc Gasol on Sunday, scoring an average of 21.5 points per game while shooting 46.2% in the preseason. Those numbers will almost certainly drop when James and Davis return to the starting lineup on Wednesday, but that’s okay, because the Lakers don’t need him to average 20 points per game to be successful this season; they just need him to take down his 3-pointers at an efficient rate and play a respectable defense.
When he does all that, everything else – including his big payday – will follow, whether it’s from the Lakers or some other team.
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