Against the Houston Rockets, who were originally at the bottom of the league, the Los Angeles Lakers, who played away, once again dropped the chain. After overtime, the Los Angeles Lakers lost to the Rockets, now not to mention entering the top six of the West, directly get the playoff tickets, the lakers and the Minnesota Timberwolves in front of them and the city's nemesis Los Angeles Clippers have also been opened, it is not easy to keep the playoff seat.
Just as the so-called roof leak is in the overnight rain, Lakers veteran Kyle Kuzma is obviously still suspicious of his old club's choice to abandon himself in the offseason. In an interview with the media, Kuzma bluntly said that when playing for the Lakers, even if he made a small mistake, he could be reprimanded by the media and fans, and he suffered great pressure on the Lakers. On the contrary, after joining the Wizards, everyone encouraged and believed in him, which made Kuzma look at ease on the court and play the best performance of his career. Coincidentally, the Next Game, the Wizards will challenge the Los Angeles Lakers, with Kyle Kuzma including Kentavis Caldwell Pope returning to the familiar arena for the first time to play against their old clubs after leaving the Purple and Gold.
In fact, don't blame Kuzma for having a grudge against the Lakers, during his time with the Purple and Gold Army, he really did not suffer less grievances. As the no. 27 rookie in the first round of 2017, Kuzma helped the Lakers Summer United team win the championship and personally won the MVP award in the finals shortly after entering the league. After entering the NBA, Kuzma averaged 16.1 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game in his first season, and was successfully selected to the all-rookie team. Although the Lakers went high and low in the 18-19 season, they once again missed the playoffs, but Kuzma won the MVP award of the Rookie Challenge on All-Star Weekend, averaging 18.7 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game in the regular season, and was the Lakers' second-largest scorer.
Originally, Kuzma's future can be said to be bright, and in the summer of 2019, with the Lakers successfully getting Anthony Davis, the team instantly became a favorite for the championship, and the outside world had more expectations for Kuzma. However, whether from the data or the role of the court, Kuzma is indeed not as good as in the past, the 19-20 season lakers regained the championship trophy, but there are many fans petitioning, hoping that the Lakers will not give Kuzma a championship ring, which is really a bit heart-wrenching. Of course, at least at that time, the Lakers management still trusted Kuzma, and they renewed their contract with the latter in advance, and Kuzma got a new contract of 3 years and 40 million US dollars. However, because last season still did not make much progress, the Lakers finally lost patience, in order to get Russell Westbrook, Kuzma was sent to the Wizards as part of the main chip. What makes him even more chilling is that most Lakers fans, instead of sending blessings, cheered and decided that the Lakers had taken advantage.
Kuzma is clearly holding back a lot of energy to prove himself, and the Wizards also trust him very much, in the first half of the season due to Davidson Bertans' serious decline in form, Yamura was also plagued by injuries, Kuzma was entrusted by the Wizards head coach Unseld Jr., he showed his all-round skills, So far this season, Kuzma can average 17.2 points, 8.7 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 0.7 steals and 0.9 blocks per game, a number of statistics set a career high, and as a player with an off-the-beaten-path game, Kuzma's shooting rate has reached 45.7%, which shows that his ability to seize opportunities is very strong.
In particular, the Wizards star Bradley Beal has undergone surgery and determined that the season will be reimbursed in advance, although the Wizards' strength and record have been greatly affected, and they have now fallen to the 11th place position in the East, and it is not easy to grab a play-off ticket. But it was also a good opportunity for Kuzma and other players who needed to prove themselves, and the Wizards traded Spencer Dinwiddie and Davidson Bertans for Porzingis in the final minutes of the deadline, in addition to strengthening their interior strength, Kuzma also got more balls. The Wizards' starting lineup during this time, consisting of Porzingis, Kyle Kuzma, rookie Kispert, Kentavis Caldwell-Pope and Raul Neto, has a clear division of labor, with three players on the outside to do a good job of empty projection and defense, Porzingis is the inside gate, and Kuzma is more and more like the core player of the whole team.
This season, the Lakers are in a dilemma, the fans are always nagging, the team is full of a bunch of small guards, both height and technical forwards are few. But if you think about it, Kuzma, who is only 26 years old now, is not the most suitable forward player for the Lakers? Kuzma can do a good job of outside projection, the ability to have no ball has continued to improve in the past two years, and even when James and Anthony Davis are not on the court, Kuzma can be the team's main scorer. Not to mention that after joining the Wizards this season, the most eye-catching thing about Kuzma is that he is almost everywhere on the defensive end, Kuzma's height can top the inside line, but he is very flexible, so that Kuzma can keep up with the opposing defenders on the defensive end. But now the Lakers only have the share of others, really don't say that they have no chips and assets, but the Lakers management is too bad.