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Los Angeles Lakers: Why its best that Kyle Kuzma didn’t get traded

By Jason Reed

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JANUARY 22: Kyle Kuzma #0 of the Los Angeles Lakers sits on the court after he was fouled in the second half against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on January 22, 2020 in New York City.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 Elsa/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JANUARY 22: Kyle Kuzma #0 of the Los Angeles Lakers sits on the court after he was fouled in the second half against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on January 22, 2020 in New York City.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 Elsa/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. It is hard to truly upgrade with Kyle Kuzma’s contract

Kyle Kuzma is making less than $2 million this season, which because of the NBA’s trade rules, made it nearly impossible for the Lakers to actually make a trade that made the team better without sending them backward.

In order to get someone such as Marcus Morris, who was heavily rumored to the Lakers before getting traded to the Clippers, the Lakers would have had to trade both Kuzma and Danny Green just to make the salaries work for Morris.

Is Morris a better fit for the Lakers? Probably. He has the same problem of the positional logjam but plays better defense and has been shooting at a career clip. Do the Lakers get better by trading Kuzma and their best perimeter defender in Green for Morris? Probably not.

The other important thing to note is that the Lakers would be losing an extra guaranteed season of both Green and Kuzma for half a season of Morris. If this was someone who was going to be a true third star on the team then you could make the case, however, Morris simply is not worth being a short-term option that hurts the future of the team.

It was not just Morris that had this problem. The Lakers lacked an expendable medium-range contract, meaning that Danny Green would have had to most likely be in any trade that the Lakers were to make.

There is no doubt that the team would have been willing to trade Green if they got the right return, but the right return was not there.

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