There are bad contracts throughout the NBA, the Los Angeles Lakers aren't immune to this.
Fortunately, Rob Pelinka and the front office had the foresight to ship one particular player out of town before he swindled the team into giving him a lucrative long-term contract, like he did in his most recent stop in the league.
We are talking about none other than Kyle Kuzma, as things got so bad with the Washington Wizards after they signed him to a four-year, $90 million contract that they have already shipped him out of the nation's capital.
Former Laker Kyle Kuzma Robbed Washington Blind This Season
Kuzma took full advantage of being a top-scoring option on a horrendous team as soon as he landed in Washington, D.C., and he parlayed that into a massive payday. Unfortunately, as the Wizards of all franchises should have known, putting up big numbers on a bad team doesn't typically equate to a player who should be a building block of the future.
After regressing during the 2024-25 season in just about every offensive statistical category that is measured, the Wizards traded Kuzma to the Milwaukee Bucks at the deadline. What Milwaukee learned rather quickly is that a simple change of scenery wouldn't be the answer to Kuzma's problems, as his production was essentially the same across the board.
Now, the Bucks are stuck with two more seasons and roughly $40 million committed to Kuzma. With the franchise already planning conversations with Giannis Antetokounmpo and his representation regarding what the future will hold for the former MVP, being stuck with Kuzma and his contract on a team that may soon be Giannis-less has to be a rather terrifying thought for fans in Milwaukee.
Perhaps Kuzma will figure things out with the Bucks and become a dependable piece of the puzzle. Whether that happens or not, Lakers fans will rest easy knowing that they aren't on the hook for that amount of money to the former first-round pick.