Washington Wizards forward Kyle Kuzma may be a star on the basketball court but he has been showing off his analyst skills on social media lately. After Team USA got embarrassed by Lithuania, Germany, and Canada in the FIBA World Cup to finish fourth, Kuzma took to Twitter to diagnose the problem with USA Basketball.
USA basketball better get some nba stars that know how to play a role. Anybody can be nice with the ball in their hands but can you be cool with defending and going to the corner for a few possessions?
— kuz (@kylekuzma) September 12, 2023
This comes on the heels of news about Lebron James recruiting fellow stars to play for Team USA in the 2024 Olympics. NBA stars usually care more about Olympic basketball as Team USA won four straight Olympic titles with superstar-studded rosters.
However, USA Basketball has consistently struggled with the FIBA World Cup, not winning a medal in the last two tournaments. Maybe the absolute superstars don’t participate in the FIBA World Cup, but Team USA still had plenty of All-Star and All-NBA calibers like Anthony Edwards, Tyrese Haliburton, Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, and Jaren Jackson Jr. That core still should have been enough to win the tournament.
To avoid another embarrassment in international basketball, Team USA will likely put together an Avengers-style superteam. Some of the candidates include Lebron James, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis, Jayson Tatum, and Draymond Green, as well as Kyrie Irving, De’Aaron Fox, Damian Lillard, and Devin Booker.
According to Kuzma, however, what the team needs is players who “know how to play a role.” Kuzma is absolutely correct. All of these stars can run an offense, score, and make plays for their teams. They do it as the primary option on their NBA teams at an extremely high level. However, teams need role players who can play off-ball, screen, defend, and do the dirty work. It can be hard for some NBA stars to make the transition from having the ball in your hands every possession down to not touching the ball for five straight possessions.
The roster balance needs to be much better in the Olympics than it was in the FIBA World Cup. Therefore, having elite role players needs to be as big of a priority as having the superstars commit.
Kyle Kuzma himself could be one of those players. He already made that transition once in his career when he went from a ball-dominant player to a two-way role player during the Los Angeles Lakers’ 2020 championship run. Moreover, he is familiar with USA Basketball as he was part of the training camp squad for the 2019 FIBA World Cup before an ankle injury ruled him out.
Kuzma’s call has already been met with positive responses by NBA stars. Devin Booker replied to Kuzma’s tweet saying “I’ll do it,” indicating his desire to make sacrifices for the team next summer.
And who knows? Maybe Kuzma will join him in Paris to “defend and go to the corner for a few possessions.”
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