Kyle Kuzma is making headlines again as Rob Pelinka looks to build another championship squad alongside LeBron James.
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Kuz has quite easily been the most controversial of the Lakers’ young brigade who played from 2014-2018. The University of Utah graduate probably had his best year in his first season alongside LeBron James, but its all been downhill from there.
Kuzma’s performances on teams with championship expectations has been below-par, to say the least. Not only have his minutes dwindled in the regular season, he can’t hit a barn door with a bazooka in the playoffs. This was most apparent in their Game 6 vs the Suns this year.
He’s been the target of Lakers fans’ resentment practically whenever they lose games. His streaky shooting and inconsistent scoring overall through his time in Los Angeles may not have helped. But he’s certainly been scapegoated in most losses with little to no fault of his.
Perhaps a move to new pastures might help him regain confidence and work on his game with extended minutes? Kuzma had previously dismissed the idea of playing for Orlando based on the ‘boring location’.
Kyle Kuzma removes Lakers from his Instagram bio
It seems ironic that he’s perhaps headed to one of those ‘quiet’ cities to play for their franchises. The combo forward is clearly in trade talks, judging from how he’s removed the Lakers from his Instagram profile.
Dennis Schroder was the first Laker to do this. In fact, he did it even before he played Game 6 vs the Suns. That was a tragic game of its own for the franchise, but the signs were all already there ahead of the game.
Where exactly will Kuzma land? He’s definitely made considerable strides on his defense from some pathetic times in his rookie season. But if he can’t put together a viable offensive game soon, he’s going out of the league.
