Lakers News: Kyle Kuzma Dishes on LeBron James' Impact on His Career

Kyle Kuzma provided his insights on how LeBron James altered his NBA future during his Lakers tenure.

Regardless of how some NBA fans feel about him, LeBron James undoubtedly makes the players around him better. James has a lot of on-court strengths, but elevating the play of his teammates is right near the top of his impressive tool chest. Over his 19-year career, LeBron has helped boost the careers of players who otherwise might have toiled at the end of benches.

It's a long list of players that includes names like Boobie Gibson, Mario Chalmers, but more recently, Alex Caruso and Kyle Kuzma.

In a recent appearance on the Draymond Green Show, Kuzma explained the benefit of playing alongside an all-time like LeBron James. 

“You’re on that team and you see that man being a professional, you’re going to fall in line. Because it’s a certain standard and you don’t want to let someone down who cares so much about winning. You want to be a part of that too."

The former Lakers forward noted that playing alongside LeBron was something that helped propel him to be a better player. Kuzma went from a volume scorer on a hapless Lakers team before LeBron's arrival to a rotation player on the 2020 championship team.

Kuzma was shipped to Washington in the Westbrook deal last summer, but shined in a larger role with the Wizards. He set a career-high in rebounds per game (8.5) and his second-highest scoring average (17.1 PPG).

LeBron isn't on his team anymore, but he's certainly taken some of those lessons from The King to heart.