In Kyle Kuzma's rookie year, the 22-year-old forward out of the University of Utah led a young Los Angeles Lakers team in scoring with 16.1 points per game. Fast forward two seasons and Kuzma, who was once seen as a bright budding star in the league, is now playing a career-low 24.5 minutes per game while coming off the bench for LA.
As a guest on Danny Green's podcast “Inside the Green Room,” Jared Dudley spoke on Kuzma and how the young forward is settling in to his new, reduced role with the Lakers.
“If you look at all teams LeBron has been on when he’s teamed with another superstar — D-Wade, Kyrie — the third person, it takes a while. Now the difference with the other two people — Bosh and Kevin Love — is they’re starting. When Kyle Kuzma starts, he’s averaging like 23 points. His field-goal percentage is up, his 3-point percentage is up, because you get more options, you get more minutes, you’re more in the flow,” Jared Dudley said, via SB Nation.
The obvious case for Kuzma's reduced role is the increase of talent that the Lakers have had over the past two seasons. First LeBron James and then superstar big man Anthony Davis — both of whom take up primary minutes from Kuzma.
“He’s playing behind Anthony Davis. So now you’re limited on sometimes [Frank Vogel] plays him at the three, sometimes we go small-ball, but it’s never a consistent flow because let’s say Anthony Davis plays for 12 minutes and has 12 points. It’s hard to get in that flow,” Dudley further explained.
“So what Kyle has done tremendously when you watch his film of the last 10 games is his rebounding is up almost double. He is crashing the boards, he’s rebounding it. He’s playmaking a lot better than he was. Now he’s turning the ball over a little bit more, but it’s a give or take on ‘hey, we want to improve this before the playoffs in 25 games.’ Defensively he’s been so much better.”
In his new role, the third-year pro is averaging 12.6 points and 4.3 rebounds per game while shooting 43.5 percent from the field and 31.6 percent from deep. And while it may look like Kyle Kuzma is having a major down year, his per 36 minutes are pretty on par with what he was able to do in his first two seasons.
Moreover, it is also worth noting that the Lakers are playing tremendously with LeBron and AD leading the way and Kuzma playing as a third option. The Purple and Gold franchise is currently atop the Western Conference standings and is likely to keep their position come playoff time.
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