Los Angeles Lakers: Three bold predictions for Kyle Kuzma in 2019

2. He is no better statistically than he has been the last two years

Another narrative that has been pushed about Kuzma this summer is that the young forward is due to break out and become the Lakers third star. Nobody is expecting an All-NBA performance out of him but there are some fans that are expecting an increase in production in 2019.

Going on the bench will have some impact on his box scores but it does not necessarily guarantee that he is going to go down statistically. Heck, Lou Williams is the Los Angeles Clippers third-best player and he is on the bench.

Kuzma could still put together better numbers on the bench in the right situation. He is just not going to do that.

I am not declaring that Kuzma is going to have a worse year than the last two. Instead, he is going to be right around with what he has done, largely in part due to his teammates on the Lakers.

I hate the “he is already close to his ceiling” argument just because he was better right away than other rookies. There really is no way to prove that and instead is something that people love to say as an empty evaluation.

That is not it at all. Kuzma is not going to be the third star of this team, that is going to go to DeMarcus Cousins, who is still an all-star-caliber player when he is 80 percent healthy.

Having such a crowded frontcourt with LeBron, Davis and Cousins is not going to give Kuzma the chance to be better than he was last year. It is the same thing that happened to Lonzo Ball’s numbers when LeBron James joined the team.

It is not to say that he will be any worse of a player talent-wise, but he won’t do more per night than he has done the last two years.