After trading away most of its young core to the New Orleans Pelicans in exchange for Anthony Davis, Kyle Kuzma was the lone young prospect the Los Angeles Lakers had left.
The Lakers reportedly were unwilling to trade Kuzma, the 27th pick in the 2017 NBA Draft, due to his relationship with the front office as well as his on-court contributions, and that choice looked like it was beginning to pay dividends during parts of the 2019-20 season.
Although Kuzma started the campaign unable to play after suffering a foot injury during his time with Team USA in the summer, the forward eventually made his return and provided a scoring spark off the bench.