According to multiple reports, the Los Angeles Lakers could be willing to move Kyle Kuzma to bring in reinforcements for a championship run.
With less than a month before the NBA’s trade deadline, the rumor mill is churning at full speed, with reports emerging the Los Angeles Lakers could be looking at moving young wing Kyle Kuzma in an effort to procure some backcourt help for a playoff push.
Marc Stein of the New York Times reported Monday the Sacramento Kings have tried to talk to the Lakers about a deal for Kuzma, but the price might be prohibitively high.
Sacramento is among the teams that has tried to engage the Lakers in Kyle Kuzma trade talks, league sources say. The Kings know they would have to include sharpshooter (and soon-to-be restricted free agent) Bogdan Bogdanovic, for starters, in a Kuzma deal
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) January 6, 2020
The Kings were only able to offer Bogdan Bogdanovic a four-year, $51.7 million extension, but the guard might be in line for a much better offer as a restricted free agent next summer, even if some of the shine has come off his strong FIBA World Cup performance because of nagging injuries that have plagued him all season.
But James Ham reported for NBC Sports Bay Area the Kings are unlikely to part with Bogdanovic as part of a Kuzma deal.
Kuzma responded to a report from Shams Charania of The Athletic (subscription required) that several teams have been inquiring about Kuzma and gauging their ability to get the 24-year-old forward.
Former Lakers assistant coach Brian Shaw told Yahoo Sports’ The Bounce he believes Kuzma will be dealt sooner rather than later, particularly after Kuzma’s trainer, Clint Parks, criticized LeBron James‘ work ethic by comparing his work habits to those of LA Clippers star Kawhi Leonard. There were other factors cited by Shaw, as well.
"“When you don’t sign with Rich Paul and your trainer comes out and says Kawhi was giving the business to LeBron, you’re gonna be outta there.”"
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The Lakers don’t have many assets left to trade after sending a bevy of first-round draft picks as well as young players Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball and Josh Hart to the New Orleans Pelicans in last summer’s deal to land Anthony Davis. The only picks Los Angeles has to trade are second-round picks and they don’t have one of those available until 2023.
That makes it likely Kuzma would be the centerpiece of a deal to potentially bring in a point guard, a scenario Sean Devaney of Heavy.com reported Tuesday that he was told by one general manager. But Devaney’s report also indicated the Lakers are nowhere close to pulling the trigger on a Kuzma deal.
Ideally, the Lakers would like to get a point guard and perhaps a lottery pick — or close to one — in exchange for Kuzma, or possibly get two lower picks in the first round.
"“They had to sort of sell out their draft picks to put this team together with Davis. They want to piece some of that back together so they’re in position if they want to make other trades, this year or down the road. It’s a high price they want.”"
Kuzma was slowed coming into the season by an ankle injury he sustained in exhibition play for USA Basketball prior to the FIBA World Cup. Kuzma missed training camp, the preseason and the first four regular-season games and has not been as effective as hoped in a reserve role.
His playing time is down nearly 10 minutes per game from last season, so the drop from 18.7 points a game to 11.8 a night is not that hard to digest. But per 36-minutes, Kuzma has dipped from 20.3 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2.8 assists to 18.1, 5.4 and 1.2 respectively.
While his 3-point shooting has rebounded a bit from last season’s 30.3 percent mark, 34.6 percent is still below the league average of 35.5 percent and his overall shooting has fallen from 45.6 percent to 42.0 percent this season.
While the Player Efficiency Rating is not a terribly effective overall rating metric, it does do a decent job of measuring a player’s work on the offensive end and after two seasons near the league average of 15.0, Kuzma has dropped to an unsightly 10.7 this season and has played to a minus-0.5 Value Over Replacement Player.
If offense is the only real strength Kuzma brings to the table, he seems miscast as a 3-and-D bench player. He also continues to show less ability to create his own shot as his career advances. As a rookie in 2017-18, 53.1 percent of Kuzma’s 2-point buckets were assisted along with 88.1 percent of his 3-pointers.
Last season those figures rose to 61.4 percent on 2s and 92.2 percent on 3s and so far this season, that rate is 70.4 percent and 95.6 percent, respectively.
The other complicating factor behind a potential Kuzma trade — particular for a starting-caliber point guard — is that he will make just $1.97 million this season and $3.56 million next season on his rookie deal as a 27th overall pick. The sort of player the Lakers want to add is not going to be there for around $2 million.
So to make Kuzma the centerpiece of such a deal, they would likely have to package him with other players — potentially gutting their already-suspect depth — in order to get the type of player Los Angeles would want to acquire.
There is a lot of smoke around Kyle Kuzma right now, but several things are going to have to fall into place for the Los Angeles Lakers to actually light a fire under a trade for their third-year forward.