Los Angeles Lakers: Why LA was wrong in keeping Kyle Kuzma

By Jason Reed | Sep 9, 2019

OAKLAND, CA - DECEMBER 25: Lonzo Ball #2 of the Los Angeles Lakers listens to teammate Kyle Kuzma #0 against the Golden State Warriors during the second half of their NBA Basketball game at ORACLE Arena on December 25, 2018 in Oakland, 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 Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) /

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(Photo by Yong Teck Lim/Getty Images) – Los Angeles Lakers /

2. Kyle Kuzma is a poor defender

Many people think that the Los Angeles Lakers are going to be terrible on the defensive end of the court as the team last season was one of the worst in the league. While they were bad last year, the Lakers will not be as bad this year and have reasons to believe there will be an improvement.

First of all, Anthony Davis is a Defensive Player of the Year candidate and Danny Green is one of the 20-best defenders in the league. While that will help in guarding the other team’s two best guys, it does get a little bleak after that, unless Alex Caruso and Avery Bradley could step up.

Either way, Kuzma’s poor defense does not help this narrative as he is not a good defender in his own right. The team likely will hide him at times, but creating that mismatch onto him is just going to be a disaster waiting to happen.

With Davis and LeBron both being able to score adequately and Danny Green being the three-point specialist, there is the possibility that the Laker foregoes Kuzma’s scoring more times than not and instead put a better defensive player on the court in crunch time.

Again, that is not a guarantee, but it is strange to want to keep the worst defender of the bunch and risk your third-best player becoming a non-factor late in games because of his obvious drawback.

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