NBA: Lakers try out Kuzma as a center

The Los Angeles Lakers continue to work on their rotation for the coming season. A somewhat unexpected development could be a transfer from Kyle Kuzma to the center position.

The 2.06 meter tall Kuzma is currently being tested quite a bit on the five in training, as Kuzma and coach Luke Walton confirmed on Friday. Los Angeles has some centers in Ivica Zubac, JaVale McGee and Rookie Moritz Wagner, but the Lakers will probably play a lot of small ball – LeBron James will also see some minutes on the five.

Kuzma, too: “It’s going quite well,” said the sophomore on Friday. “I’ve never really played on the Five before. But I think it’ll be good for us if we play Small Ball and Run&Gun.”

A big change should take place defensively for Kuzma, where he was not necessarily considered a specialist as a rookie. But Walton sees Kuzma as having the potential to be a good defender on the five: “One of the reasons we’re trying him out there is his versatility. He does it well, even if it’s very different at the beginning. We can imagine that it works well.”

Kuzma had played an unexpectedly strong season for the Lakers as a rookie. The 27th pick of the 2017 draft came to 16.1 points and 6.3 rebounds on average last season.