Kyle Kuzma ended up thousands of miles away from where he expected to be this offseason.
The new Washington Wizards forward appeared this week on fuboTV’s “No Chill with Gilbert Arenas.” Kuzma spoke on the reported trade that would have sent him from the Los Angeles Lakers to the Sacramento Kings but ended up falling through.
“I was kinda shocked because I thought I was going to Sac,” said Kuzma. “The Sacramento deal, Buddy Hield, that s— was done. So I’m thinking in my head like, ‘Yeah, OK well I’m in Sac. Forty-five minute flight. That’s not bad. I can go to Napa [Valley].’ But then out of nowhere, it goes, ‘You’re going to Washington.’
“I was super hyped obviously because it’s a better situation,” Kuzma added. “Going to Sac would’ve been fun. I would’ve went crazy for sure. That’s how I think. But to have an opportunity to play with Brad Beal, someone that is really trying to be a winner in this league … it’s just a perfect opportunity. It’s a lot of guys that have chips on their shoulders. Everybody’s ready to prove something. That’s when something can be special.”
Kuzma, 26, was sent to Washington as part of the Lakers’ trade for Russell Westbrook. But just minutes before news of that deal broke, Kuzma was reported by other sources to be headed to the Kings in a package for Hield.
The late 180 aside, Kuzma now joins a Wizards team that seems intent on keeping and competing with Beal as its anchor. On top of Washington’s other additions this summer (Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Montrezl Harrell, Spencer Dinwiddie and first-round pick Corey Kispert), Kuzma is probably not wrong that he ended up in a better basketball situation than he would have had in Sacramento.
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