Now that we’re on the heels of training camp and pre-season, all the summer workouts and improvements players have made will be put on display. For the Lakers young core, the addition of LeBron James means they have to show those improvements quickly. Josh Hart seems to think his fellow draft-mate, Kyle Kuzma, is up to that task.
Hart was asked about the work Kuzma put in this off-season and had high praise to spare.
Almost all the reports from people around the Lakers have raved about the entire young core and their work ethic, but especially Kuzma. In their press conference last week, Magic Johnson rang similar compliments of the 23-year old.
Kuzma is coming off of a stellar rookie campaign but knows he has ways to upgrade his game in order to be a more impactful player in year two. While he was incredibly efficient as a scorer and rebounded the ball at a solid rate, he was rather porous on the defensive end.
Fortunately, Kuzma recognized this and went to work on that aspect of his game this summer.
If the forward is able to make a jump and be a plus-defender this season it will go a long way towards not only reaching his potential as a player, but the team reaching their potential together.
The Lakers will be searching for a consistent second-option behind LeBron James this year and it will likely be one of the young guys. Kuzma has put in the work to give himself a chance to be just that.
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