Lakers News: Kyle Kuzma Wanted Out of Los Angeles
Kyle Kuzma was supposed to be a promising piece that the Lakers wanted to build their team with when they kept him out of the trade for Anthony Davis. However, two seasons later, plans changed. Kuzma was included in a trade package to net the Lakers a third star in Russell Westbrook.
Even after signing a 3-year extension, Kuzma was sent packing to Washington D.C. While there hasn’t been any obvious hard feelings about the separation, Kuzma revealed during the Wizards’ media day that he wanted to get traded.
“For me, wanting to get traded, and be in a type of situation where I can really spread my wings and develop a certain type of trajectory that I was on prior.”
Now Kuzma isn’t trying to throw shade at the Lakers or cause any problems. What he says makes a lot of sense. Though he had developed some stronger relationships with his teammates here in LA, the presence of two superstar players like LeBron James and Anthony Davis stunted his individual growth as a player.
Just take a look at his first two seasons, one including the presence of LeBron, and his last two.
His first two seasons he averaged 17.4 points per game, 5.9 total rebounds, a .453 field goal percentage while averaging 32.15 minutes played each game. His last two seasons in purple and gold obviously took a hit. He posted averages of 12.9 points, 5.3 rebounds, .440 field goal percentage, and 26.9 minutes per game.
Obviously anytime you have a lot of mouths to feed, individual stats will need to be sacrificed for the good of the team. After sacrificing for two years, one in which the Lakers win a championship, you can’t blame Kuz too much for wanting to be able to develop as a player and not be in the shadows. It’ll be interesting to see if that does come to fruition or not.
