Rare is the day that a team can trade for a contract with three years and $67.2 million left to run on it, and accurately claim that they were making a salary-dump trade. Yet when the Milwaukee Bucks traded Khris Middleton, A.J. Johnson and the right to swap 2028 first-round picks with the Washington Wizards at the most recent NBA trade deadline, bringing back Kyle Kuzma as the main returning piece, that is what they did.
The trade cost the Bucks two more of their precious few trade assets in the forms of Johnson and the pick swap, yet it was also the first step in the much-needed reload that has since seen Brook Lopez leave as a free agent, and Damian Lillard be shockingly waived. Although their NBA championship victory was so relatively recent, their team had peaked while the spent asset cost and salary payments only got bigger, and Middleton needed to go. Not through anything he did wrong, necessarily, but because Giannis Antetokounmpo could not be the one to go, and no one else cleared enough salary.
Kuzma, though, played the worst season of his NBA career last season, and by quite some way. To prevent a salary-dump acquisition from becoming yet another salary write-off, he and the Bucks will have to find a way to make this work.
Kuzma’s Drop-Off
In terms of his basic counting stats, Kuzma averaged 14.8 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game, roughly in line with his career numbers. In terms of his VORP rating, however, Kuzma’s -1.4 rating was by far the worst of his career, and the third-worst mark in the league. Of the 569 players to play last season, Kuzma ranked 567th.
A negative VORP means that an average, run-of-the-mill, G League-level replacement player would have been better for the team. And for a player of Kuzma’s talent, stature and salary, this is not an acceptable result.
Kuzma has always been a – let’s call it – confident offensive player, and to be sure, the Washington Wizards over the first half of last season were not the most disciplined or secure place for a player in need of his own instincts curtailing. It is not a coincidence that one of the only two players below Kuzma in VORP was former fellow Wizard, Bub Carrington, who had a good second half and made the All-Rookie second team but whose inefficiencies leave a lot of room for growth.
Kuzma, though, should be beyond the growth phase. And he was just as poor with the Bucks as he was with the Wizards – if not worse.
The Path Back To Happiness
Nevertheless, a new season is a new opportunity.
With Giannis still on the team, seemingly for the duration, both the Bucks and Kuzma have a foundation stone to operate around. Kuzma’s value as a secondary/tertiary playmaker, driver, transition threat, finisher and decent shooter is there, if he taps into it – in his days with the L.A. Lakers, Kuzma shone (mostly) as a role player, whether he was asked to play the three-and-D role, as a stretch five, as a starter or off the bench.
It is hard to pigeon-hole someone whose mercenary shot selection makes him hard to contain. What should not be forgotten amidst all the talk of his contract, VORP and historically poor playoff performances though is the fact that Kyle Kuzma is one of the world’s most talented basketball players. At 6’9, Kuzma can handle, drive, finish and put together game-changing scoring bursts. Perhaps with a bit of stability and an environment where winning is the sole priority, as the Bucks are openly trying to do, he can find his way back to his best.
How do you Solve a Problem Like Kyle Kuzma?