Los Angeles Lakers: 3 players set to struggle in 2020-21

1. Kyle Kuzma

It shouldn’t come as a surprise at this point. Unfortunately, despite being a very serviceable player, Kyle Kuzma has now become totally expendable to the Los Angeles Lakers.

After two very successful first seasons as a pro, the arrival of Anthony Davis has thrown Kuz to the bench, with literally no future prospect of starting any time soon. Once thought of as a competitor to Jayson Tatum’s hype, Kuzma has quickly wound up struggling to find his role.

Kuzma clearly appears to be a rather talented NBA player. In fact, during the nine games he started during the team’s title-winning season, he averaged 20.9 points per game on nearly 50 percent shooting from the field.

The most disturbing outcome of it all, is that due to AD, his starting spot on the team is nowhere in sight. Now, after adding even more talent to the team, Kuzma will definitely see a decrease in his time on the floor, leading to a dip in his production.

Who’s to say that in an alternate universe, where the Lakers traded him away instead of Brandon Ingram, wouldn’t Kuzma be the one winning the Most Improved Player award while making the All-Star Game.

Now at the age of 25, Kuz is not getting any younger. Maybe it’s best for both sides if they decided to part ways and make the best out of a troubling scenario while there’s still time.