Washington Wizards: Kyle Kuzma’s Breakout Continues

The Washington Wizards have an emerging weapon on the wing in the form of Kyle Kuzma. On Sunday against the Orlando Magic, Kuz notched his seventh double-double in his last nine games played.

Calling Sunday’s performance just another double-double doesn’t do his performance justice, though. Kuz went for 27 points and 22 rebounds in the narrow win over the Magic. That brings his averages over the last nine games to 23.8 points and 11.7 rebounds. Simply put, Kuzma is getting it done for the Wizards right now.

It’s much needed, as the Wizards continue to hover around the .500 mark as the halfway point in the season nears. Injuries and protocols have prevented key players from playing in far too many games.

Instead of making excuses, Kuzma is doing his part to help the team stay afloat during the unfortunate stretch of luck. The 22 rebounds on Sunday marked a new career-high for Kuzma. While we may not see many more 20 rebound performances from him, we may see quite a few more double-doubles in his future.

His production on the glass makes him that much more of an asset. He is the only Wizard on the current roster who has a reasonable chance of finishing this season averaging double-digit boards. By doing so, he would help fill a major gap this roster had coming into the season on the glass.

As of late, Kuz is the Wizards second-best player. If you said that would be the case entering the season you would be looked at like you’re crazy. In a season in which Bradley Beal‘s future may be on the line, Kuzma’s emergence is a blessing for the Washington Wizards.

One Thing Kyle Kuzma can Still Improve on

Only judging his recent stretch of play provides a lot of praise towards Kuzma. Still, it isn’t perfect and a few adjustments would make a huge difference for this Wizards group.

Kuzma needs to either start hitting more perimeter shots or he needs to start taking fewer three-pointers on a per-game basis. The latter is the better solution, as Kuzma currently leads the team in three-point attempts per game. This is despite him connecting on just 32.4 percent of those shots.