The Los Angeles Lakers had to give up a bevy of young players and future draft picks to acquire superstar forward Anthony Davis. The lone mainstay left on the Lakers' young core: Kyle Kuzma.
After the deal was made, Kyle Kuzma claimed that a number of fans in Shanghai mobbed him. He even thanked his new teammate for causing the apparent commotion.
Bro I just got mobbed in Shanghai thanks @AntDavis23
— kuz (@kylekuzma) June 16, 2019
Perhaps he should thank Rob Pelinka, too, who traded Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart and three future first-round picks, including this year's No. 4 pick, to the New Orleans Pelicans.
The Lakers were adamant to keep Kuzma out of any deal for Davis, and they got what they wanted.
Kuzma makes sense as a piece that fits perfectly next to LeBron James and Anthony Davis as a sweet-shooting, floor-spacing four-man. Perhaps that's the reason why the Lakers refused to include him in any trade for the All-NBA big man.
In his sophomore campaign, Kyle Kuzma averaged 18.7 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game, while shooting 45.6 percent from the field and 30.3 percent from long distance.
With the trade, the Lakers are left with LeBron, Davis, and Kuzma as the only real rotation pieces in the lineup. Isaac Bonga and Moritz Wagner round out the roster.
Surely, the Lakers will fill this team out with mid-level free agents and cheap veterans that can help them compete for a championship. It's also highly possible that they will add another major max-level free agent to their superstar pairing of LeBron and AD.
It'll be interesting to see how the chips will fall into place in Los Angeles. The most important thing, however, is that the Lakers finally were able to land their big fish.
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