At the 2017 NBA Draft, the Los Angeles Lakers selected Kyle Kuzma with the No. 27 overall pick. While most experts projected him to be a second round draft pick, Kuzma surprised most at the Las Vegas Summer League after averaging 21.9 points and 6.4 rebounds en route to being named the championship game Most Valuable Player.

Heading into the 2017-18 NBA season, Kuzma is confident in his shooting (51.4 percent from the field and 48.0 percent from three) and is focused on defense according to Joey Ramirez of Lakers:

“Rookie year’s gonna be hard enough (with) playing all the games and getting used to guarding the heavy names every night,” Kuzma says. “For me it’s just defense. Offense is gonna come, because I can score the ball.”

As a result, Kuzma's long-term focus is becoming a great two-way player:

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So his longterm focus is locked on becoming a “great two-way player” over the course of his career.

If Kuzma's shooting from Summer League translates over to the regular season, he will create a nice problem for head coach Luke Walton. With Brook Lopez, Julius Randle, Larry Nance Jr., and Ivica Zubac all expected to be part of the rotation, it will be difficult to find minutes for Kuzma unless he can play at small forward.

Although the Lakers are still rebuilding, Kuzma is another example of the team drafting well with their late first to early second rounds. In addition to Nance Jr., Zubac, and Kuzma, Los Angeles has also drafted Jordan Clarkson and Josh Hart in recent years.