The Los Angeles Lakers Leading Scorer May Surprise You: Who is Kyle Kuzma?
SteemSports Presenter:@hogan22
SteemSports Editor:@scottybuckets
The Los Angeles Lakers played an exciting game in Cleveland against Lebron James and the Cavs last night. It was a fast paced and high scoring affair and the Cavs beat the Lakers 121-112. All eyes were on Lebron and Lonzo as speculation has been swirling that they will be teammates next year. But there is another rookie on the Lakers that should be getting more attention than Lonzo Ball. Kyle Kuzma is his name and we will tell you about him.
Kyle Kuzma was drafted in the first round of the NBA draft this past summer. He was the 27th pick and is currently leading the Los Angeles Lakers in scoring. But no one knows his name or where he came from. All of the hype is about that “other” first round draft pick by the Lakers. Kuzma deserves some attention and praise for his fantastic season so far. Kuzma’s 16.3 points a game are the top on the team.
Kuzma is a 6’9 Forward that is from Flint, Michigan. He was not heavily recruited and slipped out of the state with no offers from the perennial powerhouses, Michigan State Spartans or University of Michigan. Instead he headed out West to the University of Utah. The Utes are a good program but not a great one. Kuzma played sparingly his freshman year. He only saw the court for 8 minutes a game and averaged 3.3 points. He was slender in size and needed to add on some weight.
His sophomore year was much better. He would move into the starting line up and average 10 points and 5 rebounds. His junior season would be his best. He started all 29 games and averaged 16 points and 9 rebounds. His progression got the attention of NBA scouts and he decided to declare a year early for the NBA draft. There aren’t many great players left at the end of the first round but the Lakers have struck gold with Kuzma.
The Lakers rookie is starting some games and coming off the bench in others but is playing starters minutes with 30 minutes a game. Along with his team leading 16.3 points per game, Kuzma is averaging 6.7 rebounds per game. Unlike teammate Lonzo Ball, he is shooting the ball well with 49% from the field, 36% from the 3 point line and 77% from the free throw line. He had 20 points and 7 rebounds last night against the Cavs. Only time will tell if Kuzma will be a better pro than Ball, but so far, the contest isn’t even close!
Thank you for following @steemsports and you can find me @hogan22
wow great,interesting post, I really like
Who is Kyle kuzma ?
Very nice, Kuzma is really nice i like his inside out game. And I like the fact that he tried to dunk on "The Process"!