Kyle Kuzma looked like a second-round pick heading into the 2017 combine, but a strong showing earned him a spot in a group workout with the Los Angeles Lakers. It was at that workout where the Lakers really fell in love with him, according to Sports Illustrated's Chris Ballard:
A strong combine led to an invitation to a group workout from the Lakers. “He won every drill and dominated,” says Walton. They acquired him from the Nets on draft night.
Kuzma, the 27th pick, went to Los Angeles along with Brook Lopez in a trade that sent D'Angelo Russell and Timofey Mozgov to the Brooklyn Nets. Kuzma went on and outshined Lonzo Ball that summer, the Lakers' second overall pick in 2017, which really impressed Walton:
Expected by most to be overshadowed by Ball, the No. 2 pick, Kuzma went on to win summer league championship MVP, immediately clicking with Ball. Recalls Walton, “He figured out before anyone else that when that shot goes up, if you leak out—which we don’t encourage, but it was Summer League—Lonzo was going to throw it over the top. So he was getting like eight points a game on literally just leaking out. I was like, O.K., he’s already got a scorer’s mentality.” It was about this point that Walton stopped caring about those parts of the tape where Kuzma had disappeared.
Kuzma enjoyed a phenomenal rookie season for the Lakers, even though they did not make the playoffs. Now in his second season, he's the team's second-leading scorer, trailing only LeBron James.
Kyle Kuzma continues to improve as an individual, and that's one of the reasons why people see a lot of potential in him. He's a workhorse and a gym rat, and he loves the game so much he's willing to work as hard as possible in order to be recognized as one of the best basketball players once he reaches the end of the road for his career.
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