Kyle Kuzma hooped last year for the Milwaukee Bucks like he just got out of a body cast. Maybe, it was a hangover effect from two years of freelancing in an undisciplined basketball environment and being relied upon to take and make shots for a floundering team, but he was aimless after getting traded to the Bucks.
The theory behind adding Kuzma was that although he lacked Khris Middleton’s playmaking capabilities, he was younger, and could lighten the load for Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Instead, the Bucks got a player who couldn’t shoot, wouldn’t defend, and looked perpetually stunned when the ball wasn’t in his hands. Defensively, he was a turnstile. Offensively, he was a bricklayer.
This wasn’t just a slump. It was a basketball identity crisis. Think Michael Porter Jr. forgetting how to shoot. Grabbing boards, driving, and dishing, all seem like foreign concepts to him. Sure, Kuzma slightly improved on the 28 percent he shot from deep in Washington, but he still couldn’t clear 70 percent from the free throw line and posted a 1:1 assist-to-turnover ratio.
The Bucks owe him $42 million over the next two years which means he won’t be a tradable expiring contract chip for another year and a half. He lacks any tangible qualities when the ball isn’t in his hands and he’s a net negative when it is.
In Game 1 against the Pacers, Kuzma delivered a vintage Tony Snell homage performance art, going 0-for-5 from the field in 22 minutes en route to delivering a blank slate on the stat sheet. His zero points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks will go down in infamy for its futility. That was a microcosm of a series full of clunkers by Kuzma which essentially signaled that Antetokounmpo was on his own.
In five playoff games with the Bucks, Cardio Kyle averaged just under six points per contest, fewer than one assist, shot 20 percent from deep, and 50 percent from the charity stripe.
The outlook on Kuzma is bleak and contributes to the narrative that the only way to begin a revitalization of the franchise is to dump its most valuable commodity. Unfortunately, the Bucks are stuck with Kuzma for the foreseeable future.
How can Kyle Kuzma get his groove back?
There’s no reinvention coming. But a recalibration is still on the table.
With Giannis Antetokounmpo out of the way, Kuzma should have more room to operate in the restricted area and paint, where he excels as a scorer. Kuzma’s 3-point shooting has been more deleterious than the Chernobyl reactor in his last two stops.
A complete reinvention isn’t on the docket, but if the Bucks are going to rehabilitate Kuzma’s trade value, altering his shot diet is the best way to salvage this crisis. Otherwise, they’re stuck riding this out, hoping he stumbles into competence.