When LeBron James signed with the Los Angeles Lakers, a large concern was how he would mesh with the young core of Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma and Josh Hart.
As James cited the group as one reason he joined to the Lakers, it felt extremely important that those four learned how to be successful alongside him. The player most believed would benefit from having James as a teammate was Ingram.
In reality, the third-year forward has struggled when sharing the court with the 16-year veteran. Meanwhile, Kuzma’s offensive talent fit has fit perfectly alongside James and his passing ability and willingness to distribute.
And while Kuzma got off to a slow start this season, he’s certainly been able to find his stride and be successful. Kuzma has noticed this as well, and after a string of good games, believes he’s figured out how to play with James, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“I think I pretty much learned how to play with him. It’s all about trying to feed off of him, play off of him. Whether that’s cutting, getting ready to shoot, or sometimes doing it on your own. For the most part, things have been pretty good.”
However Kuzma has managed to find his rhythm, it has absolutely allowed him to put up consistently good numbers. Over the last 10 games, which the Lakers went 7-3 in, Kuzma averaged 20.9 points, 7.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists.
If Kuzma can remain consistent with these numbers, he could find himself on an All-Star team shortly. Throughout Kuzma’s rookie season, he always had excellent performances but could never find consistency.
Maybe playing with James will allow him to get to his spots more often which will keep his scoring up at a high level. If the Lakers can groom Kuzma into a consistent second scorer, the team may become a lot more dangerous.
