Kyle Kuzma has been on fire lately. Since he was traded by the Lakers alongside Harrell and KCP for Westbrook, he has seemed to find his niche lately. For the past 8 games, Kuzma has been averaging 26 points on 56% shooting alongside 12 rebounds, and 4 assists
Kuzma who was drafted by the Lakers in 2017 showed a promising talent. Laker Nation loved Kuzma, he was one of the surprising talents from the 2017 draft.
???????? @kylekuzma has jokes. The Wizards star is averaging 26-12-4 on 56% FG over his last 8 games. pic.twitter.com/VsQLNrITRg
— Ballsack Sports ® (@BallsackSports) January 14, 2022
However, his progress was slowed due to the entry of LeBron James. The moment LeBron joined the Lakers, even though Kuzma was one of his favorite player to play with, his production went down.
Especially since Anthony Davis joined the team. After averaging 18 points per game in his sophomore year, his points dropped by 6 and averaged just 12 points per game in the 2019 and 2020 seasons.
Was trading Kyle Kuzma a mistake by the Lakers?
Even though Kyle Kuzma has started to bloom into a star especially over the last 8 games. His overall production has been average. This year he is averaging 15 points on 33% shooting from behind the arc.
But when we look at who he was traded for, we can say that it was a mistake by the Lakers. Russell Westbrook has been having one of the worst seasons of his career. Kuzma is a young talent, who is an average defender and can shoot the ball. The Lakers who are old and have few players who can spread the floor desperately need talent like Kuzma.
His young legs and shooting and his ability to play off the ball are really good. Moreover, he has played with LeBron for 3 years and knows how to feed off of James. They won a championship together.
Thus, looking at how Westbrook has been nothing but a disaster for the Lakers and Kuzma who has found his niche, many can come to the conclusion of trading Kuzma and others for Westbrook may have been a mistake.
