Even after inking a lucrative three-year, $40MM contract extension on Sunday, Lakers power forward Kyle Kuzma remained uncertain about his precise role with Los Angeles, according to Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times. After starting all of the Lakers’ four preseason games, Kuzma came off the bench last night for the club’s regular season opener, a 116-109 loss to the Clippers.
Ahead of last night’s game, head coach Frank Vogel offered his thoughts on how Kuzma would contribute to the club regardless of whether or not he started.
“So, the No. 1 thing with Kuz in terms of this team is to bring energy on both ends of the floor,” Vogel said. “He knows what we’re asking him to do with regard to offensively, being more aggressive in catch-and-shoot situations, playing through him some but also complementing [LeBron James] and [Anthony Davis] and continuing to grow on the defensive end… Where he’s going to fall in terms of starting role or coming off of the bench is still to be determined and will likely be fluid throughout the year.”
Here’s more on the Lakers:
- After suffering an ankle sprain in the fourth quarter of last night’s season opener, Lakers All-Star LeBron James still expects to be ready for L.A.’s next game, a Christmas Day contest against the Mavericks, per Jovan Buha of the Athletic. “I turned it pretty good, but I don’t think it’s gonna stop me from playing on Friday,” James said.
- New Lakers starting center Marc Gasol has a long history with LA, despite playing his first game with the team yesterday, as Bill Oram of the Athletic details. Gasol was originally drafted with the No. 48 pick in the 2007 draft by former Los Angeles GM Mitch Kupchak, then was traded in an infamous deal with the Grizzlies for his older brother, then-All Star Pau Gasol, before ever suiting up for the Lakers. He signed a two-year, veteran’s minimum deal this offseason to add his defense, shooting and passing acumen to the reigning champs.
- The Lakers are exercising caution with their minutes allotments for James and Anthony Davis, according to The Los Angeles Times’ Dan Woike. Davis played 31 minutes in L.A.’s season opener, while LeBron was limited to just 28 after his ankle sprain early in the fourth quarter. “We’re going to be conservative with their minutes early on in the season, and we have the depth to do it,” head coach Frank Vogel commented.
lmao lebum and lakers making minutes excuse why they lost like always
Did you even look at actual minutes played vs their average or are you just looking for an excuse to hate on the champs AND mvp runner ups
Minutes restrictions typically happen on teams who won title 71 days ago.. clippers had plenty of time off after getting beaten by nuggets
Congrats to the Clippers on back-to-back opening night titles.
0-1 Lakers
At least they were smart enough to make it to their job.
You wrote that wrong. Genius put the Lakers on the zero side.
The Lakers that rolled over the Rockets in the the playoffs, en route to a championship? Those Lakers?
I wonder if the fact Kuzma doesn’t know his role has anything to do with him not being any good?
His defense is absolute trash.. he got destroyed by both pg and kawai.. They drive right by him everytime and he doesn’t offer any real contest of the shot.. on offense he doesn’t do anything but stand on 3 pt line.. kuzma should’ve never gotten that extension..
I was confused by the extension as well. I really thought Kuz would be a great trade chip. It feels like he’s constantly throwing up bricks.
Yeah he puts up pts when the game is already decided..I’ve soured on kuzma big time.. he isn’t good at one thing.. doesn’t play d, doesn’t rebound, no assists.. scored 15 but gave up atleast 30 on defense..
Compared to the other extensions it was a steal. In Los Angeles County alone he makes less than Kennard and Morris. I believe he is more of a trade chip because of the extension. Now a small market teams where player control is important are in play. Plus if he waited till after the season he would have easily got 4 years 60.
He can’t be traded until next year.. this team wouldn’t win or lose if kuzma has left via free agency.. kennard is a shooter..Morris is a better player than kuzma as well.. kuzma isn’t good and not worth the money
You have no clue how this works. Kuzma got a very reasonable contract and can be moved in any scenario. You keep an asset when you get a chance to that cheap. Morris is 5 years older puts up similar offense to Kuzma and got 24 million more. But yeah Kuzmas deal is the worst ever.
Marcus Morris shoots 43% from 3 and plays defense.. kuzma last 2 years shot 31% from 3. Kennard shoots 40% from 3.. that why they got paid. They both make 3 million more per year then kuzma… kuzma doesn’t do anything well. Doesn’t shoot well, doesn’t rebound, doesn’t dish assists.. defense is atrocious.. he can’t be traded until next year..
16 PPG for his career coming off the bench. Thats not bad for 1 rookie contract year left + 13 million a season. You acting like they gave him a max deal lol.
He averaged 16 and 18 his first two years when the team wasn’t good.. easy to put up stats on a bad team.. last year, shot 43% and 31 from 3 and averaged 12pts.. last night he didn’t do nothing until garbage time.. but he probably was responsible for giving up 30 with his defense.. he got owned in the playoffs.. he’s not an integral part to winning.. his defense is a liability.. he doesn’t impact the game in any other way but his scoring and that happens .. every 4 games.. 11 of 21 games in playoffs he scored under 10.. 15 of the 21 were 11 or less. Averaged 1 rebound and less than 1 assist per game.. last night he had 15 pts 1 rebound and 0 assist.. 8 of the 15 were in the final minutes of the game..
As a matter of fact is easier to put big numbers in a good team, than in a bad, wake up dude!
Oh really.. marcus Morris put up 18ppg for knicks and 12 for clippers.. your theory is out the window.. on a bad team they put up stats because they shoot more and do everything to look good..
Kuzma isn’t yet worth as much as he signed for. People stop saying the offer was so strategic… it was a future bet. Nobody would offer 4/60. Maybe the 3/40 but that would be a mistake for them also until he matures.
Exactly right. Coach Vogel was being politically correct but you can read through his comments: “He needs to bring energy to both sides of the floor. He knows what we are asking offensively…” But defensively… yeah… let’s avoid that topic. They are way too high on Kuz’s potential.
They need more 3 and D players, neither of which describes Kuzma.
Imagine if kupchak trades Andrew Bynum and keeps Marc Gasol.
Marc, Pau, and Kobe probably win 1 or 2 more titles with Marc over Bynum
Jerry West was in Memphis at time.. he knew to take Marc when giving up pau.. Kupchak had no idea what they had in marc
West was not with Memphis when that trade was made.
He left the Grizzlies in 2007, the trade was made in 2008. I remember Laker haters accusing West and the Lakers of collusion over that trade, and West wasn’t even with the Grizzlies at the time. As we know, that kind of baseless crap is par for the course among Laker haters. We see it daily. It was one hell of a trade for the Lakers, though. Not only did they get Pau, but they got rid of Kwame Brown, who was just awful for them.
Yes he was.. he was still a consultant in 2010
Ah yeah, I forgot about the consultant role. West likely would have advised including Marc Gasol in the trade, and Kwame was probably included as filler for the roster and/or to make the numbers match up.
Interesting, wikpedia does not account for West between 2007-2011 inclusive (Memphis-GSW). Bas.Ref. doesn’t account for consulting.
This leaves open that West could still have been attached to Memphis; and even have helped out LA from there, which would not be ethical IMO.
Of course if Memphis wanted to do the trade anyway, he would not have been able to stop them.
I recall, that the talk of the time was that Memphis was being run by an accounting type who just wanted expirings. (MEM got two— KwameB & AaronMcKey plus MarcG and three low firsts for PauG. Marc was a Euro throw-in.) There was much angst around the league about a Pau giveaway; Pau got 5 AS and two titles with LA. Apparently Popovich wanted to offer for him. I don’t remember West being mentioned, but he could have been a trigger for the controversy.
MEM got awful, but six years later won 161 games in three years with a round-of-4.
I doubt West was trying to help the Lakers, especially considering that he went to the Warriors and Clippers as a consultant after Memphis. I think he just does his job for the organization which employs him. The Lakers definitely got the better end of the deal in acquiring Pau, but I doubt that was due to West doing anything unethical, and the decision was not his to make, anyway. The whole Kawhi situation may be different, as it involved luring a free agent, but the addition of George into that mix seemed pretty fishy from the start. Nevertheless, that would involve West trying to improve the organization that employs him. I think it’s highly unlikely he would have been trying to help the Lakers while employed by the Grizzlies.
I know they miss the D Bigs that left. Think they will have to address rim protection. They had two guys that could do that last yr. It showed last night. A rim protector is the key piece on team D. Last yr Lakers were 3rd in team D. This yr We’ll see a difference
link to nba.com
They missed all resemblance of defense last night. Everyone looked super tired at the end of the third and all but gave up with 4 mins to play. Mini offseason is a real aspect, but they could’ve easily won last night if the effort persisted. Not worried at all.
it would take at least 20 games to judge if the lakers roster improve from last season. but based on this 1 game opener against the clippers, it didn’t.
I agree with that. No preseason and bubble ending not too long ago. I said the same thing. Give it about 20 gms. And we’ll start seeing the real NBA. Now I’m just watching the draft picks, new guys. See how they are fitting in.
Yeah, and specifically regarding the Lakers, prior to the game, when asked, Vogel said the Lakers are ready mentally, but not there yet physically. I assume that may be true for other teams as well, particularly those that went furthest in the playoffs. The Heat also lost to Orlando in their opener. I doubt it means anything. The shortened offseason kind of sucks, but I’ll take a slow start after a championship any day.