Golden State Warriors power forward Draymond Green is back in the lineup after missing the last four games due to a shoulder injury. In his first game back from a stint on the sidelines, he’ll be facing the Los Angeles Lakers at home Friday night. He’s likely studied tapes of Los Angeles before going up against them, and among the Lakers who have been getting his attention is no other than rookie Kyle Kuzma.

Speaking with reporters including Mark Medina of The Mercury News before Friday’s game against Los Angeles, Green sounded as though he’s been keeping an eye on Kuzma long before the Lakers got the former Utah Ute in a draft-day trade with the Brooklyn Nets.

“When you looked at Kuz even before in college you’d see stretches where it’s like ‘Oh man, this kid is good, he’s skilled and he’s talented.’ Then you’d see some stretches where it looked like he wasn’t interested at all, which is why he was the 27th pick and not a top-10 pick,” Green said following morning shootaround on Friday. “A lot of people are beating themselves up in the head now. But even you looked at it, you can’t be like ‘Oh man, this kid is a top-10 pick.’ Sometimes this kid didn’t look interested.”

Kuzma has been a big surprise for the Lakers this season. He is leading his team with 17.4 points on an impressive 50.7 percent shooting from the field. It’s certainly a promising start to his NBA career, but with Green having a target on Kuzma’s back, it’ll be interesting to see whether the rookie will be up for the challenge.