The Wizards have been huge for the development of Kyle Kuzma

Kyle Kuzma has had a rollercoaster ride as a NBA player. He experienced being the go-to guy as a rookie in a losing situation, then sacrificing his numbers to win a championship, and now again being a go-to guy helping a team fight for a playoff spot.

We all know how good Kuzma has been this year, especially Wizards fans who thought he should’ve been an All-Star this season.

Since becoming a Wizard, Kuz’s scoring, rebounding, assists, shot attempts, and makes have gone up. This is a product of him having the ball more, which was the case early in his career. But let’s take a deeper look at the numbers behind his improvement.

The advanced stats also back up Kyle Kuzma’s growth with the Wizards.

Kuzma‘s assist percentages are at a career high at 16.8%, as well as his usage rate which is 28.1%. With the ball in his hands more, his percentage of field goals assisted for 2 pointers 46.4% and 3 pointers 78.4% are at a career low. This shows he has more responsibility as a playmaker for others on his team and is no longer the one being set up for shots. His assists per game is currently at 3.8 and with a total 220 so far. The most assists he had was 233, which he notched last season.

As a small forward, Kuzma is fifth in real plus-minus in the entire league at 4.76 . Amongst all forwards, Kuz ranks 11th in defensive win shares at .113

Kuzma is also one of the better on-ball defenders according to bball-index.com

Kuzma was on the Ball Don’t Stop Podcast talking about his development as a player and how he feels he can improve in multiple areas. It’s no secret to why Kuzma’s numbers went up when he got to the Wizards. He was asked to do less on the Lakers because he was playing with great players like LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Rajon Rondo. He can now take the knowledge he learned from those stars, along with the championship experience and apply that with his team here in Washington.

The only step for Kyle Kuzma and his development is to find a way to increase his efficiency. If he can find a way to do that next season, there is little to no doubt that he will become an All-Star. Playing for the Washington Wizards has clearly been a huge benefit for the development of the high scoring forward and this season could help him improve his shot selection going forward.