Kyle Kuzma on being traded by Lakers: ‘It’s been a great change of scenery’

According to Cleaning the Glass, a website that specializes in advanced analytics, his usage rate of 23.5 percent through Friday ranked in the 92nd percentile among NBA bigs this season. “It’s been a great change of pace for me, a change of scenery,” Kuzma said. “I did as much as I (could) to maximize (myself) when I was with my former team, with changing my role every single year for the betterment of the team and trying to fit in with great players. But here, it’s been a lot different, because I don’t necessarily have to do that. My role has changed here. If you think about the first 25 games, I was in a different type of role than I am now: more scoring and just doing more things with the ball. It’s just great to be in a situation where I can just be myself and do what I do, and not dummy myself down.