Coming in at #10, Kyle Kuzma has certainly been one of the more controversial additions to the roster in recent memory. He was brought in as a versatile forward who could reasonably play next to Giannis, but it was at the expense of franchise legend Khris Middleton, who, despite never getting over the injury bug, still played a crucial role for the Bucks. Kuzma had huge expectations upon his arrival, but through the rest of that regular season, he never really seemed to click with the team. In the 2025
playoffs, Kuz had one of the worst postseason performances we have seen from a starter, which led to him being benched and barely seeing the floor after his goose-egg game against the Pacers. He did not get a playoff redo last season, so despite having won a ring with the Lakers (the reason why LeBron has his ring in LA (please Google this meme before killing me in the comments)), he finds himself near the bottom of the list for postseason importance on a young roster.
Okay, controversial tweets and fashion choices notwithstanding, let’s look at the good perfectly cromulent aspects of Kuzma’s game to look forward to this year. For starters, he came into the season last year as a backup to Giannis. In a league where players often want the ball (and the attention), Kuzma took a team-first approach that meant he entered the year in a role he hadn’t had in several seasons at that point in his career. While it’s easy to critique Kuzma’s game, it’s worth giving him credit for the presence he brought to that role. Throughout the season, you could see him with his arm around other players at various points, offering advice and trying to lead in his own right. As we learned about the locker room fallout as the season dragged on, we heard that Kuzma specifically went to Ryan Rollins and Kevin Porter Jr. after they were put on blast during a team meeting and told them to ignore the unfair way Doc handled the situation. Having a veteran presence like this can greatly benefit younger players and the overall locker room culture—Kuzma’s willingness to be a team player could help the team find its identity this season.
Now, for readers who just gasped at that thought, here are the perfectly cromulent aspects of Kuzma’s game that should hopefully quell some of those fears. For starters, Kuzma had a 14.1 player efficiency rating (PER) last season, which is by no means great but puts him firmly in the “decent rotational player” category. That also means he is right around his career average, and in the ballpark of one of his most efficient years overall. If you felt like he was more efficient off the bench last year, that’s because he was. For the season, Kuzma averaged 26.2 minutes for 13.0 PPG, 4.5 RPG, and 2.7 APG, but off the bench he averaged 22.4 minutes and slashed 11.8/3.4/2.2, meaning he was more efficient in smaller bursts. Finally, last season Kuzma hit his career high in true shooting at 58.1%, which is exactly league average and only slightly behind the league average for power forwards (58.6%), meaning he found his spots and converted opportunities better than ever.
For those still with me and who haven’t either wretched themselves onto another page or left to buy themselves a Kuzma jersey, I think, taken together, this all means a few things: first, Kuzma is a decent player, and likely a decent veteran presence to have in the locker room, which, if we ignore the price point for this year, does present some opportunities for the Bucks. If Kuzma continues to be this efficient, some team will certainly be interested in him around the trade deadline. While the playoff goose egg game may still be fresh in the minds of Bucks fans, another half season or more of him 1) taking on the role of big brother Kuz to the younger guys and 2) being a league-average player means that a team in need of frontcourt depth would certainly consider adding Kuzma at the trade deadline. Of course, in a contract year, Kuzma knows he is auditioning for his next role and payday around the league. On top of remaining a reasonably efficient shooter, he can help himself and the Bucks by using his size to get downhill more and clean the glass at a better rate. While Kuzma is many things to many people, he is a lifelong hooper. From what we saw last year, he is willing to play a selfless brand of basketball, which, at this point in his career, is his most likely path to staying a rotational player in the league for years to come. That selflessness can also help elevate the young Bucks roster this season as he auditions for his next contract. So all in all, I think we can expect at least one more great good perfectly cromulent year out of Kuz.
And we’ve reached single digits! Who goes at nine?
