Kyle Kuzma had a great day.
But the Lakers have been here before.
Where is the hope that Kuzma's 25-point scrimmage Saturday might be a sign of things to come? The long NBA pause gave him time to heal, reflect and improve | @billoramhttps://t.co/DDLdVITgFs
— The Athletic L.A. (@TheAthleticLA) July 25, 2020
A day after his 25th birthday, Kuzma poured in a game-high 25 points on 10-of-13 shooting while knocking down five 3-pointers, the most in any of his games this season, in a 119-112 victory.
“What he did today,” Frank Vogel said, “he did all through our ‘restart training camp’ so to speak. I’m just really excited about what the restart is going to look like for him.”
And so the pendulum swings for Kuzma. No longer the youthful starter with a green light like he was in the days Luke Walton stalked the sideline, Kuzma has seen his minutes and scoring drop as the Lakers’ sixth man. Last season, he averaged 18.7 points in 33.1 minutes. This year: 12.5 points in 24.6 minutes.
But as Kuzma’s role on a deep and veteran team has necessarily diminished, it also has grown in importance.
Which is why a game like the one he turned in on Saturday is so intriguing.
It’s not like it was entirely out of nowhere. Kuzma has had big games this season. But his two best scoring efforts came when the Lakers were without one or both of their superstars. On Jan. 10, he scored 26 points with Anthony Davis out of the lineup. The next night he exploded for a season-high 35 against Oklahoma City when both LeBron James and Davis sat out.
And even though the Lakers lost Davis in the first quarter on Saturday after he was poked in the eye, the victory over Orlando reignited that spark of hope for what Kuzma can be.
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Prior to the shutdown, Kuzma’s 3-point percentage had dipped below 30 percent. But on Saturday, Kuzma checked in midway through the first quarter and promptly buried four 3s before the end of the period — each one without so much as a dribble.
That was likely not an accident.
On the season, Kuzma was shooting 34 percent on spot-up 3s, but just 15.1 percent on pull-ups.
“We want to minimize how much we’re shooting off the bounce. But punish when teams go under,” Vogel said. “We’ll take them however we can get them, as long as they’re open. And hopefully we see improved consistency on that front with Kyle.”
Rather than any changes to Kuzma’s mechanics, Vogel pointed to his repetition over the hiatus.
Kuzma certainly does not want to be typecast as a spot-up shooter, and the absences of Avery Bradley and Rajon Rondo could lead to more opportunities for him to operate out of the pick-and-roll.