Almost halfway through the 2017-18 NBA season, it appears the Los Angeles Lakers got the steal of the NBA Draft in the form of forward Kyle Kuzma. Although all the buzz coming into the season surrounded Lonzo Ball, Kuzma has stolen the spotlight in Los Angeles and has already far exceeded expectations.

Over the past few weeks, Kuzma has started to come into his own as of late as he seems to be getting better and better with every passing game. The Utah product scored a career-high 38 points recently against James Harden's Houston Rockets and is coming off another impressive offensive performance dropping 31 points on the Minnesota Timberwolves on Christmas Day.

It comes as no surprise that head coach Luke Walton has been impressed by what his rookie forward has been able to do this season, even against some of the best players and teams in the NBA, via Dan Duangdao of ClutchPoints.

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Following his 31-point performance against the Timberwolves, which is an NBA record for points scored by a rookie on Christmas Day, Kuzma is now averaging 18.1 points per game for the Lakers. The 22-year-old is the team's leading scorer ahead of Brandon Ingram (16.0) and is currently leading all rookies in scoring slightly ahead of Donovan Mitchell (18.0) of the Utah Jazz.

Ben Simmons of the Philadelphia 76ers may be the favorite to win NBA Rookie of the Year, but Kuzma could make a strong case if he's able to continue playing well while gradually taking his game to another level the rest of the way this season.