Kyle Kuzma Details 'Weird' Interaction With Ex-Wizards Teammate in Return to Washington

The adjustment period still isn't over for Kuzma after changing teams earlier this month.
Kuzma had 19 points in Milwaukee's win on Friday night
Kuzma had 19 points in Milwaukee's win on Friday night / Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

Kyle Kuzma spent a handful of mostly solid, if unremarkable, seasons playing for the Washington Wizards before he was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks at this year's NBA trade deadline. Getting sent to another Eastern Conference foe promised, among other things, that Wizards fans wouldn't have to wait long to see Kuzma again. The forward returned to Washington on Friday night with the Bucks and helped beat his former team, scoring 19 points to give Milwaukee the edge despite a foul-plagued night for Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Afterwards, Kuzma spoke to reporters about the experience of playing against the Wizards in an enemy uniform and shared a funny anecdote that goes to show how tricky the transition can be for professional athletes after being traded— he celebrated a block on his current Bucks teammate with his old Wizards teammate.

"One time in the first quarter, it might have been Alex [Sarr], he might have blocked a shot," Kuzma said, per ESPN. "Bilal [Coulibaly] came over to dap him up. Then I dapped up Bilal, just by instinct. It was weird."

Kuzma spent three and a half years playing on the Capital One Arena court, so it shouldn't be too shocking that he'd revert to muscle memory while in the flow of the game.

The life of an NBA player is a strange one.


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Liam McKeone
LIAM MCKEONE

Liam McKeone is a senior writer for the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has been in the industry as a content creator since 2017, and prior to joining SI in May 2024, McKeone worked for NBC Sports Boston and The Big Lead. In addition to his work as a writer, he has hosted the Press Pass Podcast covering sports media and The Big Stream covering pop culture. A graduate of Fordham University, he is always up for a good debate and enjoys loudly arguing about sports, rap music, books and video games. McKeone has been a member of the National Sports Media Association since 2020.