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The Los Angeles Lakers struck gold in the 2017 NBA Draft when they acquired 27th overall pick Kyle Kuzma. Since then, he has become a household name in Los Angeles, and he continues to be one of the fastest rising stars in the league.
One of the main reasons why Kuzma easily transitioned from collegiate to professional basketball was the fact that he sought advice from two of the greatest players in the history of the NBA.
According to Sports Illustrated's Chris Ballard, during his rookie season, Kyle Kuzma asked Kobe Bryant and LeBron James for advice on how to become a great player in the league. He got a response from both:
Perhaps this is what inspired Kuzma, early in his rookie season, to reach out to Bryant. “Cold-called me,” says Kobe. “I liked his curiosity.” Bryant invited Kuzma for a steak dinner. Kuzma was giddy.
A friendship began. Kobe being Kobe, his advice often came in basketball koans. For example: To be unstoppable you must first be predictable. Explains Bryant, “So teams say, ‘O.K., I know Kyle likes to do this.’ All right, that’s great, that’s awesome. Now stop it.” Bryant continues. “Now a team makes you do something else, and you have a counter to that predictable move, and when they cut off that counter, you have a counter to that counter. But first you have to be predictable, because it not only gets you a sense of stability, night in and night out, but it also gets your teammates a sense of stability. Familiarity is extremely important.”
Kuzma soaked it up, leaning on Bryant to develop the mental part of the game. Then, around February of his rookie year, Kuzma decided, ‘Why not reach out to LeBron too?' That James played for the Cavaliers at the time, and didn’t know Kuzma, provided little impediment. After getting James’s number from mutual friends, Kuzma mulled how to begin his text. Finally, as he recalls, he settled on: Hey, this is Kuz.
Within minutes, James hit him back. Granted an audience, Kuzma began picking James’s brain too: How did he take care of his body? How did he avoid the rookie wall?
When James responded, Kuzma couldn’t help but be a bit disappointed. “He said, ‘Whatever you do, just make sure you do it consistently, because that’s greatness,’ ” Kuzma recalls. “At the time, I didn’t really understand. It sounded cliché. Like, of course. I know you do some s— for your body, but what?” Kuzma continues. “But being his teammate now, I see it. He does the same thing every day. He comes to the gym, lifts every day, gets ice, gets a massage, gets treatment after practice. That’s consistency.”
If there's one thing that Kuzma can learn from both Kobe and LeBron, it's their work ethic. Bryant was a gym rat since Day 1, while James continues to take advantage of modern technology to make sure that he's in tip-top shape.
Kyle Kuzma is already a developing a great offensive arsenal, but he's still a work in progress. He still needs to learn how to play defense and be consistent. But as long as he continues to learn from the likes of Kobe and LeBron, he's in a position for a breakout season in the near future.
