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Los Angeles Lakers: Why LA should trade Kyle Kuzma over Lonzo Ball

By Jason Reed

LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 29: LeBron James #23, Kyle Kuzma #0 and Kyle Lonzo Ball #2 of the Los Angeles Lakers talk during a 104-96 win over the Indiana Pacers at Staples Center on November 29, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 29: LeBron James #23, Kyle Kuzma #0 and Kyle Lonzo Ball #2 of the Los Angeles Lakers talk during a 104-96 win over the Indiana Pacers at Staples Center on November 29, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images) – Los Angeles Lakers
(Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images) – Los Angeles Lakers /

2. Lonzo Ball’s skill set is more valuable than Kyle Kuzma’s

I guarantee if you were to go to the Staples Center before a Los Angeles Lakers game and ask the question: “Who’s skillset is better, Lonzo Ball or Kyle Kuzma?” that over 75 percent of Laker fans would answer Kyle Kuzma.

The results of this poll might skew a tad bit just because of this article, but at the time of writing this Twitter is answering Kyle Kuzma literally 75 percent of the time.

Lonzo Ball gets a bad rep from Laker fans because of his struggles to finish in the hole at times as well as his quirky jump shot that has led to a mixed bag of results. Having a father that went on a media tour during your rookie season definitely does not help and all of that had led towards sour feelings towards Lonzo Ball.

And while he certainly cannot deny his struggles with scoring the basketball, he literally does everything else so well that is is hard to pretend like he is not a valuable asset.

He can push the tempo of the offense and serve as a facilitator, he is an elite rebounder for a guard, he has great size and decent speed to keep up with other guards and most importantly, he is showing that he could eventually be an All-Defensive player in the near future.

The shot will eventually begin to fall and even if it doesn’t, the Lakers don’t need another scorer if they have LeBron and Davis on the same roster.

Meanwhile, Kuzma has played pretty bad defense this year and is a somewhat stretch four that is shooting the ball decently and has the explosiveness to finish at the rim.

His rebounding is not great and it seems like his ceiling for scoring in a game is somewhere around 20 points and that could be a few years away.

The NBA has several guys just like Kuzma that offer a similar skill set that the Lakers can pursue in the future. The team would still have a decent amount of cap space next year to add role players that are similar in play style to Kyle Kuzma.

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