The Los Angeles Lakers made the first big move of the offseason when they completed a trade for Anthony Davis from the New Orleans Pelicans.
By the time the deal actually went through, the Lakers had just three players on the roster: Davis, LeBron James, and Kyle Kuzma.
This was viewed as the team’s core and the front office did well to build around them in free agency, but the chemistry between them will be essential to the success of the Lakers. Nothing will be known for sure until they step on the floor, but they have already been extremely complimentary of each other before the 2019-20 NBA season has started.
That holds especially true for Kuzma and Davis as the former recently spoke to Shams Charania of The Athletic, praising the latter as someone who just loves basketball and doesn’t care about the other stuff:
“AD is all about basketball,” Kuzma said. “He’s a quiet dude, and doesn’t really get into all of the extras. He loves basketball and is always in the gym.”
Many would look at that quote as funny considering everything that surrounded Davis last season. His trade demand enveloped the season of both the Lakers and Pelicans with many believing he ruined their seasons. Even Pelicans head coach Alvin Gentry has spoken about being prepared for what ultimately happened.
Regardless, Kuzma and Davis sound as if they’re on the same page and are looking forward to playing together. At his introductory press conference, Davis was just as complimentary of the promising young Laker.
“Kuz is an unbelievable player, a young player who is steadily growing, always working on his craft,” Davis said of the third-year player. “Anytime I’ve played against him, it was always great battles. He can shoot it, he can stretch the floor, he can put it down, he can finish, has some post moves. I’m very excited about playing alongside him.”
There are some questions about how the Lakers will handle their lineup and how much the two will play together. Kuzma is best suited to play power forward and Davis has been very open about his desire to play there as opposed to center. However, DeMarcus Cousins‘ injury could change those plans.
The team’s best players all seem to be frontcourt players so how they allocate minutes will be interesting. But they all sound like they’re on the same page and have one goal in mind: win a championship.
