Before there was LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Russell Westbrook, there was Lonzo Ball, Julius Randle, Kyle Kuzma, and Brandon Ingram.
For a while, Lakers fans put all their hope in that young core, hoping that at least two of them might one day become stars.
Unfortunately for the Lakers, none of those guys would really have a breakout season until after leaving Los Angeles. After the Anthony Davis trade, Kyle Kuzma was the last one remaining from that era — and he might be the worst of the bunch.
But if you ask Warriors veteran Draymond Green, the Purple and Gold were better off keeping him around anyway. In a chat with Kuzma on his podcast, Dray got honest about the Davis trade and said that L.A. couldn’t have won the title in 2020 had they kept Ingram instead of Kuz.
“The thing that people don’t realize is when you make decisions like that — some people who don’t understand winning would say, ‘but Brandon Ingram has been an All-Star, so that was the wrong move.’ But if you understand winning, what I say is, ‘but they won championship.’ Regardless of what your thoughts could be on that topic, they won a championship, and that automatically trumps everything. It’s funny because I was telling Trav earlier… I’m not sure that team still wins if they keep BI over you, because of the skill sets. All of these pieces have to fit in. What you brought to that team… you and KCP were shooters.”
Kuzma may not have the same resume as his ex-teammates, but he does have something they don’t: a championship.
No matter your feelings on Kuzma or his time with the Purple and Gold, he achieves something special there that so many players never get to experience. His skill set, role, and chemistry with the club no doubt played a hand in their success.
Who knows how it would have turned out with Ingram slotted in his place.
