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The Los Angeles Lakers didn’t see any changes to the roster at the trade deadline but forward Kyle Kuzma decided to shake things up with a new look, dying his hair blonde.
Kuzma has never been shy to make bold decisions when it comes to his look and chose to go back to blonde, something he did last season as well, inspiring a slew of Eminem comparisons.
When asked why he wanted to go with the bleached look, the 25-year-old forward had a simple explanation.
“AD told me to do it,” Kuzma explained to reporters.
Kyle Kuzma Embracing Role With Lakers
It was a different kind of trade deadline day for Kuzma, who has previously been a constant part of rumors.
“I’ve kind of gotten to the point where I’ve kind of been numb to it,” Kuzma told reporters in December. “Going through my career, just about since I was a rookie I’ve been in trade rumors, so at a certain point you really get numb to it, so that’s something that doesn’t really bother me.”
This year, Kuzma was the only Lakers player to speak to the media and his head coach Frank Vogel even had a light-hearted joke about his new look.
“If we lose again, I might need to change my hair color like Kuz did,” Vogel told reporters, drawing a chuckle.
What helped Kuzma’s cause this time around was the poison-pill provision included in his contract extension, making it very difficult for another team to deal for him.
On the court, Kuzma has matured mentally, shaking off the struggles he had a year ago coming off the bench. He’s averaging 12.1 points and 6.7 rebounds and has also really stepped up his game on the defensive end, taking pride in shutting down opponents.
“I don’t really get the ball as much, so I’ve got to figure out ways to impact things, figure out ways to be on the court for this team,” Kuzma told reporters recently. “Obviously I’m a small/power forward and those two positions are the two best players in the league, so it’s going to be very scarce out there for me from an offensive standpoint. So for me, I’ve got to figure out ways just to do other things and just not be a zombie on the court like I was a lot of last year standing around. I’m just trying to go out there and compete and see where the chips are.”
Kyle Kuzma: Lakers Learning on the Fly
Kuzma will be taking on a much larger role over the next few weeks with the Lakers’ superstar duo of LeBron James and Anthony Davis nursing injuries. James will reportedly miss four and six weeks, per Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium. Davis is expected back within two weeks.
In the meantime, Kuzma and Co. have to keep the Lakers boat afloat in a highly-competitive Western Conference. Without James and Davis, the team is missing nearly 50 points and 16 rebounds per night and has dropped three games in a row. On top of that, a condensed schedule has almost eliminated practice time.
“We have games every other day, so you can’t necessarily practice and kind of go full throttle,” Kuzma said. “We play Thursday, Friday, day off, Sunday. Really we have to learn on the fly and the games are kind of our practice right now. It’s all about shifting your mindset to be that way on the fly. It’s up to us to do that.”
The Lakers will be getting back Marc Gasol on Thursday night against Philadelphia, although the veteran big man will be on a minutes restriction, per Vogel.
“We expect Marc to return tonight on a minutes restriction of 15 minutes,” Vogel said at shootaround. “He went through shootaround and looked good. The question mark with Marc right now is his conditioning and his legs, and that’s something we’ll have to keep an eye on.”
The Lakers are a 5.5-point underdog against the Sixers, per Odds Shark.
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