When it comes to Los Angeles Lakers head coach Luke Walton, it was clear by the platform that ESPN continued to give Big Baller Brand founder LaVar Ball yesterday that he feels that Walton has lost the Lakers' locker room. One of Walton's players that strongly came to his defense today was none other than Lakers rookie rising star forward Kyle Kuzma.
In a video posted to the Lakers' official Twitter account this afternoon, Kuzma showed his love and support for coach Walton.
“Luke is my guy,” Kuzma said. “I love playing for him. I’m sure most of us love playing for him, too. We just gotta stay locked in as a family and listen to the people that really matter in our lives, basketball lives. That’s everybody in this organization. A lot of times you have losing streaks, you can go home and listen to people and let them be in your ears, but the people that really matter are the people in the Lakers organization. We stand by Luke. I know the front office does.”
When asked if the comments of fellow rookie teammate Lonzo Ball's father were upsetting to him, Kuzma said that the players need to do a better job and be accountable for their performance on the court.
“It was upsetting,” Kuzma said of LaVar's comments. “I don’t think that’s the case. When you lose games at the end of the day, Luke isn’t the one going out and shooting 2-for-15, turning the ball over, having turnovers or missing free throws. That’s us. Can’t blame the coaching staff for everything. It’s mutual, of course. Players mess up, coaches mess up. We as a team have to be more accountable.”
When the Lakers finally ended a nine-game skid last night in a 132-113 beatdown of the Atlanta Hawks last night, Kuzma said that the ability to filter out distraction played a large role.
“In our society social media’s so big in our lives,” Kuzma said. “It’s all over the place. ESPN puts out anything for clicks, now, it kind of seems like. It’s all over the place. You can’t really hide from it, it’s just a thing that you have to deal with and just move past it. No other generation of NBA players has to deal with what we have to deal with in our era. It’s a little different but you just have to try to block it out as much as you can.”
He's definitely right, especially as a member of such a young team playing under the spotlight in Los Angeles. Kuzma continues to be one of the more pleasant surprises this year in the NBA, as the No. 27 overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft currently leads the Lakers in scoring at 17.1 points per game this season.
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