The Los Angeles Lakers had high hopes this season. With LeBron James and a new and improved roster, fans expected the playoff curse to be broken. But injuries coupled with poor play prevented them from accomplishing their set goals. And for second-year man Kyle Kuzma, it has taken a toll on him both physically and mentally.

“It’s been a long, grueling season. Both physically and mentally,” Kuzma said, per Harrison Faigen of SB Nation.

“That’s gonna come with the territory of playing in the NBA,” Kuzma said. “Everybody is human, and people don’t talk about that side of things a lot in life, but that’s way more important than physical exhaustion.”

The Lakers have less than 10 games remaining in the season — all of which have no bearing. While the goal is still to win each and every one of them, in the grander scheme of things for the season, they mean nothing. At the end of the regular season, fans will not see their players back in action until October.

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This was not what they expected at the beginning. Their wish, as well as the organization's, was to see their team play in the postseason. It seemed that James — tagged as the best player in the world — carried all the expectations from him and passed it to Kuzma and the rest of the young guys.

And throughout the season, they responded with great individual games. But obviously, this wasn't enough. They have a lot of things to learn and work on.