The Los Angeles Lakers came out of Friday night with a thrilling overtime win against the Dallas Mavericks, but the game was notable regardless of the result because of the season debut for third year Lakers forward Kyle Kuzma.
Kuz didn’t blow anybody away during his debut, where he scored nine points in 18 minutes on 3-of-8 shooting from the field. After just getting in his first practice earlier in the week with the South Bay Lakers, Kuzma is also understandably not in game shape. While Kuzma suggested that he felt he was short on a couple of 3-pointers because his legs weren’t quite there, he’s already advocating for getting more minutes.
Kuzma will get an opportunity to play again in a few hours when the Lakers face off against the San Antonio Spurs. It will be interesting to see how the Lakers approach the game from a rotation perspective as Kuzma is likely ramping up his workload after Frank Vogel suggested he would consider tinkering with lineups after the five game mark.
