Los Angeles Lakers rookie forward Kyle Kuzma has already begun making his mark in the NBA. The 27th overall pick in this year’s draft, Kuzma is already looking like the biggest steal in the class.
Possessing the ideal set of skills for a forward in this era of the NBA, as well as a high-level of confidence for a rookie, Kuzma has endeared himself to Lakers fans everywhere. The question for him now becomes whether he can keep it up through the long NBA season.
There is a major difference in the college basketball season and the NBA season, but according to Bill Oram of the OC Register, Kuzma is already preparing his body for the grind:
“College, you had two games a week and now three games in four nights and back-to-back and traveling,” Kuzma said, “definitely takes its wear and tear, but I make sure to take care of the body and get proper rest.”
So far through six games Kuzma is averaging 13.7 points and 4.8 rebounds while shooting 50.7 percent from the field. His play has been so good that Luke Walton has often times kept him out on the floor to close games.
Of course there is always concern of the dreaded ‘rookie wall’ that tends to hit most first-year players. The NBA season is more than twice as long as college so once rookies get around the 40 or 50 game mark their body really starts to get tired.
Kuzma sounds like he is already preparing himself so that he doesn’t reach that same fate, which is great for the Lakers. So far this season Kuzma has proven to be one of the few consistent offensive weapons on the Lakers, so if he can skip over that and keep up a high level of production the team will be better off because of it.