Getty Jimmy Butler of the Philadelphia 76ers
Free agency is heating up in the NBA and Los Angeles Lakers young player Kyle Kuzma might be dropping some breadcrumbs with free agent Jimmy Butler as far as what their offseason plans might be. The Lakers have been looking to make a major splash in free agency and Jimmy Butler is one of the top available targets. An elite two-way shooting guard, Butler fits in nicely alongside the Lakers as they are currently constructed and could be a perfect compliment to LeBron James.
Are Kyle Kuzma and Jimmy Butler Hinting at the Lakers’ Free Agency Plans?
.@JimmyButler wearing The @nikesb @Jumpman23 collab “Lakers” colorway. 👀
📸: @JimmyButler (IG) #LakeShow
In an interesting series of social media posts, Jimmy Butler put up a picture of him wearing the brand new Nike SB/Jordan Retro 1 collab in the LA to Chicago colorway. While over time with wear, the shoes fade to match the Bulls’ colors, in their current state on Butler’s feet they are nothing but purple and gold.
Just before all this, Lakers forward Kyle Kuzma started following Butler on Instagram. Especially with how frequently Butler has been spotted in Los Angeles and the fact that the Lakers are making a full court press for a max free agent makes Butler a prime candidate for scrutinizing. While this could be nothing more than Jimmy buying a dope pair of new shoes and Kuzma following one of the league’s best players, during free agency season it’s always more fun to assume!
Next Steps from the Lakers’ Young Core
Outside of landing a free agent, the Lakers need to see some major steps forward from the members of their young core – so long as they don’t trade them all away. Brandon Ingram looked ready to finally take the step to stardom last season before going down with a DVT scare, with a clean bill of health moving forward, Ingram could be in line to have a breakout season before hitting restricted free agency.
Lonzo Ball is also coming off an injury (a general theme among the baby Lakers) and seemed to struggle at times to figure out playing alongside a ball-dominant forward like LeBron. Lonzo had previously been accustomed to having the ball in his hands and pushing the pace but was simply unable to do that all the time playing with LeBron. He can still do that to an extent with the Lakers but he needs to improve from deep in order to help properly space the offense when the ball isn’t in his hands.
Kyle Kuzma needs to improve most on the defensive end and he seems to be taking that seriously this summer. Calling on former Laker and legendary (infamous?) enforcer Ron Artest aka Metta World Peace, Kuzma is trying to shore up his interior defending in order to hang with the bigger power forwards he’s likely to match up against.
Last, we have Josh Hart. Hart is a fairly well-rounded player whose perimeter defense gets a bit of a bad rap due to the fact he played through injury most of last season. With a clean bill of health, it should be interesting to see if Hart is able to keep up with the faster guards on the perimeter. If he can, Hart will be one of the most dangerous bench weapons for the Lakers next season. Offensively, he needs to find his rhythm again from deep. Hopefully, a new system and role for Hart will help provide a shot in the arm and get his numbers trending back in the right direction.