Despite enjoying a good preseason campaign, Kyle Kuzma says he still doesn’t see what role the Lakers have envisioned for him.
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Kuzma has started in each of his 3 preseason games thus far. He’s given some high standard performances in reply. He’s made nearly half of his three-point shots, scoring 22 points per game. Alongside LeBron and AD against the Suns, he dropped 23 points on better than 50% shooting.
There seems to be a steely resolve in Kuzma’s approach on the floor these days. He seems set on making up for his less than stellar playoffs this year.
Letting his game do the talking would have been the best move to make. But the 25-year-old seems intent on putting the Lakers management under pressure. There is, of course, the small matter of a prospective extension offer that has yet to be made.
Kyle Kuzma says he is unclear about his role with the Lakers in upcoming NBA season
The forward brought up the uncertainty in his role twice before being directly asked about it:
“I just think in my career my role has changed kind of every year. So for me I’ve had to adapt my game and figure out ways to affect the game in different ways, much more than other guys on that trajectory.”
When directly asked about what he thought his role would be next year, “I have no idea,” Kuzma said tersely. “We’ll see.”
Kyle Kuzma was asked about his role this season:
“I have no idea. We’ll see.”
(h/t @kylegoon) pic.twitter.com/anh0ytvYGf
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) December 17, 2020
Before the game, head coach Frank Vogel thrust a set responsibility upon the 25-year-old:
“He’s still going to be asked to carry a scoring load when he’s out there, to make the right play offensively while being in attack mode and being very aggressive and to continue to be a big body that can guard multiple positions for us.”