Los Angeles Lakers: Kyle Kuzma will fall short of 2019 expectations

Expectations are high for the Los Angeles Lakers heading into the 2019 season, which may have caused too high of expectations for Kyle Kuzma.

The Los Angeles Lakers are primed to be one of the best teams in the league this season after adding Anthony Davis and a slew of different role players. Although the team is undoubtedly better this year, there are plenty of former players that have found a new home heading into 2019.

Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram and Josh Hart were all part of the trade to land Davis. Reggie Bullock, Tyson Chandler and Moritz Wagner are the most notable losses outside of the Davis trade, albeit the Lakers did part ways with more players than just that.

The only returning players from last year’s team are LeBron James, Kyle Kuzma, Rajon Rondo, Alex Caruso (who only played at the end of the season and JaVale McGee. That might seem like a lot, but over half of the roster is new players.

More from LA Sports Hub

Of the returning players, the player that is starting to pick up steam is Kyle Kuzma. Kuzma was the young player that the Lakers wanted to keep in the Davis trade talks and now he is expected to be the third star on a title-contending team.

Comments from Klay Thompson, comparing himself to Kuzma, helped fuel this narrative and now it is safe to say that Laker fans are expecting a big year out of Kuzma in his third NBA season.

And while Kuzma has already shown to be a great player, he likely will fall short of these lofty expectations in 2019.

First of all, Kuzma is going to need to develop an entirely new dynamic to his game to be significantly better in 2019, something that is not easy to do. Kuzma will be great at a stretch four and a heat check scoring option but he is not someone that is going to be a playmaker and create most of his own shots.

Plus, he has to get much better defensively in order to be effective on both sides and be on the court in the closing minutes of the game. Kuzma is one of the sore points of the team defensively and that would have to change.

One thing everyone is overlooking is the fact that there is a pretty good chance that Kuzma might not even be in the starting lineup. Anthony Davis seems to be the starting four, with DeMarcus Cousins starting at center.

Even with LeBron at point guard, it becomes a forced fit to have Kuzma play small forward. And with three point guards on the roster, and LeBron’s age, chances are that LeBron will play the three, not the one.

That forces Kuzma to the bench. Can he be a great sixth man and be one of the best sixth men in the league? Absolutely. Will that make him an all-star-caliber player? No.

And when it comes down to who should be the third star for the Los Angeles Lakers, the real answer should be Cousins. Sure, he was not great last year, but he did show flashes of brilliance and still put together impressive numbers despite a huge downtick in minutes.

If Cousins is even 80 percent of what he was two years ago then he will be an all-star-caliber player and will undoubtedly be the team’s third star, not Kuzma,

This is not to say that Kuzma will have a bad year, not at all. In fact, he is likely going to be a crucial part of the Lakers’ success, especially if he comes off the bench.

Next. Signing Melo is something to get behind. dark

However, I would shy away from expecting some sort of career year out of Kuzma this season. He is good, but he is not quite the third star that the Los Angeles Lakers are looking for.

Home/Los Angeles Lakers