Lost in the shuffle of a win over the Denver Nuggets was Kyle Kuzma breaking the Los Angeles Lakers rookie record for most 3-pointers made in a single season. D’Angelo Russell previously held the mark with 130 makes from deep during the 2015-16 NBA season.
Kuzma overtaking Russell as the record holder didn’t come to light until the rookie forward made a go-ahead 3-pointer on Friday night against the Miami Heat. Playing through a sprained right ankle, Kuzma shot 1-for-3 behind the arc and has now knocked down 132 3-pointers.
“It’s pretty special. Any time you have any type of record in any record book, especially with the Lakers, it’s pretty special,” he said of holding the record.
“It’s also pretty cool just from the simple fact that everybody said pre-draft that I couldn’t shoot. Pretty funny, huh? How that works.”
Kuzma shot 30.2 percent from deep over 96 games at the University of Utah, averaging less than one made 3-pointer per game during his collegiate career. He set career highs in points (38) and 3-pointers (seven) in a game last December against the Houston Rockets.
Then five days later, Kuzma finished with six 3-pointers en route to scoring 31 points and becoming the first Lakers rookie to have at least 30 points in a game on Christmas. He said at the time there wasn’t any surprise on a personal level of accomplishing those feats.
There was some that came with being anointed the top 3-pointer shooter among Lakers rookie, however, but for a different reason. “I didn’t even know there was a record for that, honestly,” Kuzma said.