Washington Wizards star Kyle Kuzma has some words of wisdom for Bilal Coulibaly amid the rookie's recent struggles.

On Sunday against the Atlanta Hawks, Coulibaly logged just 17 minutes and finished with only two points, four rebounds and three assists. Not only did he play the fewest minutes among the Wizards who suited up, but he also had the worst plus-minus rating in the game with -18.

Coulibaly's recent poor stretch is definitely a concerning trend, especially since he started December on a good note. In their first six games of the month, he actually averaged 13.2 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.6 steals on nearly 30 minutes per outing. It really looked like he's starting to find his rhythm, making him poised to get a starting nod sooner rather than later.

Nonetheless, his production quickly came crashing down after that, with his scoring dropping to just around six points. His defensive impact also suddenly disappeared.

Following their 130-126 loss to the Hawks, Kuzma talked about their rookie–who was drafted seventh overall in the recent 2023 NBA Draft–and highlighted his belief that the youngster needs to be more aggressive.

The Wizards forward also offered some advice for Coulibaly to get going, emphasizing the need for a change in mentality.

“As a rookie, you can get down on yourself real quick, but to have an aggressive mindset, you gotta have a ‘F**k it' mentality,” Kyle Kuzma said of Bilal Coulibaly, per Bijan Todd of Monumental Sports Network.

The Wizards knew when they drafted Coulibaly that he's a project that will take some time to develop, so they have the patience for that. With that said, the young French phenom and former Victor Wembanyama teammate has all the opportunity to grow his game further without added pressure.

Luckily for him, he also has some great veterans like Kuzma around him. As Kuz said, Coulibaly needs to weather the storm and get past it. There will be more rough patches waiting for him, but at the end of the day, all he needs to do is learn from those experiences and use it to fuel the growth of his game.