Lakers should look into drafting UCLA star Aaron Holiday in the first round

Aaron Holiday has the same promise as Kyle Kuzma

That’s a big thing to say, especially with the regular season still a ways from being over, but it’s true. Looking at his college numbers with the Bruins, Holiday has only gotten better with each year that he hasn’t tried to declare for the NBA.

He averaged 10 points, four assists and three rebounds per game in his rookie year and grew from there. In the year he shared with Lonzo Ball, Holiday upped his game to 12 points per game while staying virtually identical in the assists and rebounds columns.

But this season has been a completely different story. Scoring 20 points per game is double what he put out in his first collegiate season, while he’s kept his rebounding fairly consistent and improved in sharing the ball, with an average closer to six assists per game, respectively.

Part of the reason that Kyle Kuzma was able to swoop under the radar of so many people in the NBA is for the simple fact that he wasn’t a one and done Cinderella superstar. No crazy March Madness highlight reel, no top five nationally ranked team, just him doing his thing and minding his business.

Obviously, Holiday has had to deal with more noise being at a more popular and renowned school in UCLA, but going under the radar is where they’re both most similar.

Also, a huge plus in drafting Holiday is that perhaps he can help keep things in the locker room at a truce at the very least, depending on how relations between LaVar Ball and the Lakers organization goes from here. A former teammates of Lonzo’s from Ball’s one year at UCLA, Holiday has a little bit of everything that the Lakers truly need.

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And the best part? He’ll be more than ready to get to work from day one.