Kyle Kuzma has emerged as one of the Los Angeles Lakers' bright spots this season amidst all of the Lonzo Ball chatter, which has its own merits.

After forward Brandon Ingram was all but pegged an untradeable keeper this summer by the organization, Kuzma is etching his own spot as a fan favorite and a team sleeper without the constant spotlight, making it known that he belongs in Los Angeles.

Kuzma tells Shams Charania of The Vertical that he got his start at a young age, encouraged by his mother who would drop him off at the gym before work each day to direct his energy towards learning the game.

“I was a young kid and the YMCA was my second home, where my mom was dropping me off for seven, eight hours. I’d spend the day doing what I love: hoop.  In my environment, not many people make it out of Flint, where my mom had to work so hard, and I had to work on my game because I knew I was pretty special — and I had to do something with it. I had to do something to make it out. I had no choice.”

The talented forward was not chosen as a top five draft pick or chosen to run a franchise, but found himself meshing flawlessly with Lonzo Ball in the summer league almost immediately, and has worked his way into starting for the injured Larry Nance Jr.

kyle kuzma
The Associated Press

Last summer the Kyle Kuzma declared for the NBA draft without an agent after his junior season at Utah where he saw his work as a youth and training came together under the right tutelage to develop him into an NBA-ready type player.

After completing a series of workouts and scrimmages in the Chicago combine, he also worked out for the Lakers who envisioned him on the new young roster where he could grow and help the team contend.

“Everyone said I would be a second-round pick or undrafted guy, that’s all I heard coming to the draft, but I had a higher faith. I knew I was way better than that, better than how people pegged me. After I killed draft workouts and the combine, I knew I would go in the first round. I had a good hint that it would be L.A., just because of the workout and my combine interview with them.”

The Lakers’ selected Kyle Kuzma with the No. 27 overall pick, before other teams were able to grab him as he sat among other talented players on the board, because they loved his grit, toughness, and versatility. He had been scouted several times by the Lakers before and they knew he would be the guy, if available to them late in the draft.

In an instant, the two young rookies, Kuzma and Ball, the Lakers had selected came together and clicked from the time they stepped on the same court, and have been rubbing off on each other ever since.

“We had an open-gym scrimmage, me and Zo were on the same team, and we were killing guys. We were the only rookies in this open-gym setting, and I was running the floor and Zo was hitting me, making our connection. That clinched it for us, our connection. Zo had a lot of hype in college, so of course, I knew who he is, but when I watched him he made that team better. The prior year, UCLA won [15] games. Then they went to the Sweet Sixteen mostly by adding him.

I knew he had a special ability about him. We clicked pretty instantly, and the bond we built is really going to help us on the court.”