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Sitting pretty at the top of the Western Conference standings, the LA Lakers have a record of 49-14 thus far. Their success can be attributed in part to the acquisition of Anthony Davis, and partly to the way their role players have stepped up.
For the LA Lakers, the likes of Alex Caruso, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Quinn Cook have been effective playing in the role of a shooting guard. But mostly, the LA Lakers' forward line has been their most dominant weapon outside of the LeBron-Davis combo.
Kyle Kuzma, the LA Lakers' pick to keep in the squad when they traded for Anthony Davis, has had to endure an underwhelming season. While he was a starter for his first two seasons in the franchise, he's now been relegated to the microwave scorer role coming off the bench.
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LA Lakers & Kyle Kuzma Conundrum
Kuzma's scoring average for the LA Lakers has dipped from 16 points per game in his first couple of seasons on 46% shooting, to 13 ppg on 43% this season. However, veteran free agent signing Jared Dudley is of the opinion that Kuzma is still destined for great things with the LA Lakers.
“I’m going to be honest with you, I take it as pride to be equally balanced with my teammates. The first person who comes to mind is Kuzma,”
Speaking about his relationship with Kyle Kuzma, Dudley said,
“I’m really cool with Kuz, he’s the one I thought I could help the most, he’s the one I thought has the most potential to really take us over the top."
Dudley says that with two great MVP talents like LeBron and AD on the LA Lakers' roster, it is Kuzma's chance to improve whether on or off the court. Kuzma has been criticized in the past for having a tunnel vision, and he's been guilty of settling for tough drives instead of easy spot-up shots.
According to Dudley, his relationship with Kuzma started off before the LA Lakers' young'un was drafted with the 27th overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft. He reveals that he was taken in by Kuzma's talents when he saw him hooping at Impact in the summers - back when the LA Lakers forward was in Utah.
I actually called my agent to recruit Kuzma. I was like, ‘Who is this kid killing these pros?’ He signed with my agency, so I already had a relationship somewhat. And then I went through my hanging out with all the young kid phases, where I had D’Angelo, Devin Booker.
Jared Dudley further continued and said,
So when I wanted to come to L.A., Booker already told Kuzma how I was with him, D’Lo told him how I was in Brooklyn. So it was just an easy transition hanging out with him.
While Kuzma can't exactly get on the route to being an All Star like Devin Booker or D'Angelo Russell, Dudley believes he has a lot offer to the LA Lakers. According to Dudley, he could have a star impact coming off the bench as well when the NBA restarts on July 30th at Disney World in Orlando .
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Guess the Lakers players!
