Washington Wizards star, Kyle Kuzma recently traveled to the Philippines for his tour and fans warmly welcomed the 29-year-old. Kuzma shared multiple stories of his trip, with thousands of fans showing him love for his event. Kuzma also shared some insights on his time with the Lakers. During one of the interviews, Kuz opened up about playing alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Besides, he spent his initial years playing for the Lakers.

Kuzma was a bright rookie and ranked 4th in the ROTY voting. However, just a year later, the King arrived in LA, playing the role of a veteran and a leader to the young squad. Initially, this didn’t affect Kuz, rather his numbers kept improving. However, things took a turn when Anthony Davis joined. Kuzma’s role was reportedly diminished after AD’s addition and his numbers reflected this diminishing role. Regardless, he gave his all, even after he was moved from the starting lineup to the bench.

Nevertheless, Kuzma describes those years as one of the most important ones of his life. “I think that was like, one of the most important times of my life. Taking a backseat and really like, watching and learning,” Kuzma said. Quite frankly, his recent tweet saying, “Backkkk dennn they didn’t wantttt mee,” might evoke memories of the rumored reasons behind his departure from LA.

Although his praises for AD and James might indicate no hard feelings during his exit, past instances tell a different story. Kuzma averaged 17.3 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 2.2 assists while shooting over 45% from the field in his first two seasons as a starter.

However, when the Lakers welcomed AD, Kuz spent the next couple of seasons coming off the bench. His numbers saw a decline and there seemed to be some tensions that were starting to develop among Kuzma and the duo. During a game against the Clippers in March 2019, Kuzma pushed James toward Gallinari who had a wide-open look on a jump shot. It was during the game’s final minutes and the Lakers could not afford to give away possession. Now, at the time, the push was completely meant to help close out on an easy shot.

However, some believed that Kuz was not happy with James’ efforts. While this was not the case, things would later sour. Kuzma’s trainer, Clint Parks publicly criticized LeBron James on Instagram. Parks called out James for his lack of effort on the floor, comparing him to other stars. But it wasn’t only his trainer, Kuz shed some light on the issue. He famously tweeted “Call a spade a spade.” Later, Kuzma denied that the tweet had any correlation to his trainer’s Instagram story. Regardless, the chemistry between him and LeBron and AD was on the verge of collapsing completely.

Kyle Kuzma was slowly moving out of the picture
Following the championship run, LeBron James was looking forward to seeing Kuzma make a comeback after spending the previous year as a bench player. And for the most part, things were getting better for Kuzma who started half the game he played in the 2020-21 season. Nevertheless, Kuzma and LeBron didn’t seem to get along well. It appeared as if Kuz was slowly moving out of the necessary rotations. The consequence? The Lakers traded Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and Montrezl Harrell to the Wizards.

Did things get better for the Lakers? Well, the straightforward answer would be, no. It got much worse for Los Angeles. The squad missed its second postseason with LeBron on the roster. On the other hand, Kuzma and the Wizards struggled to get back into the postseason. Right after his trade, Kuzma cleared things up, responding to the rumors surrounding him and James.

Kyle said “It’s all love. All love for sure”, refuting all claims that hinted at his beef with LeBron James. Fast forward to the present day, Kyle Kuzma has improved his craft by putting up phenomenal numbers as a Wizard. Last year, he averaged 22.2 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 4.2 assists while shooting over 46% from the field. It will be interesting to see Kuzma lead the Wizards, with Jordan Poole, to a much-awaited playoff appearance.

What are your thoughts on Kyle Kuzma’s exit from the Lakers? Do you think he had beef with LeBron James? Let us know in the comments.