Inside The Wizards

Wizards Star Suffers Embarrassing Air-Ball Filled Performance

A Washington Wizards star air balled four shots during his team's preseason game.

Evan Massey

Oct 11, 2024; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Wizards forward Kyle Kuzma (33) drives to the basket as Toronto Raptors guard Davion Mitchell (45) and Raptors forward Scottie Barnes (4) defend in the first quarter at Capital One Arena.
Oct 11, 2024; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Wizards forward Kyle Kuzma (33) drives to the basket as Toronto Raptors guard Davion Mitchell (45) and Raptors forward Scottie Barnes (4) defend in the first quarter at Capital One Arena. / Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
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The Washington Wizards won their first preseason game of the year on Friday evening, beating the Toronto Raptors by a final score of 113-95. Unfortunately, for Kyle Kuzma, the game was full of embarrassing moments.

Fans occasionally see air balls from NBA players. However, Kuzma was consistently finding air with his shots throughout the game.

In total, Kuzma air balled four shots in the preseason. Thankfully, the numbers from these games don't count towards anything.

To make matters even worse, the four misses all came in the first half.

Needless to say, that was a forgettable performance for Kuzma. It doesn't matter due to the game just being practice, but it's still rough for any professional player.

Despite the air balls, Kuzma put together a solid performance for the Wizards. He scored 22 points on 7-for-17 shooting and knocked down three of his 11 three-point attempts. He also chipped in six rebounds, three assists, and a steal in the win.

Heading into the regular season, Kuzma is going to be a massive part of Washington's hopes of taking the next step in their rebuild. They want to be a team that is at least competing for a spot in the Eastern Conference play-in tournament.

There is also a good chance that Kuzma's name will be involved heavily in trade rumors.

Last season, he was one of the hottest names on the trade market ahead of the deadline. That very well could be the case once again this year.

Only time will tell, but the 29-year-old forward is in for what should be a quality season. He had a career season last year and is looking to carry that momentum into the 2024-25 campaign.

Hopefully, we won't see more of these types of performance from Kuzma. The Wizards are going to need him to play at a very high level to reach their goals.

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Evan Massey
EVAN MASSEY

Evan Massey is a sports reporter and analyst who covers both the NFL and NBA. He has worked for ESPN, Yahoo! Sports, Forbes, Bleacher Report, NFLAnalysis.net, NBAAnalysis.net, and many other publications. In his free time, Evan enjoys spending time with his wife and son.

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