A fascinating trade proposal has the Washington Wizards sending star forward Kyle Kuzma to a top Eastern Conference team in a move that would shake up the 2025 NBA championship race.
Kyle Kuzma has three years left on his $90 million contract. But with the Wizards nowhere close to competing, their best bet is to trade Kuzma now and place themselves in a position to tank for 2024-25.
Rohan Katti and Ti Windisch of Bleacher Report proposed a blockbuster trade idea in which Washington would send Kuzma to the Milwaukee Bucks in exchange for veteran Brook Lopez, noting that it would help the Wizards “bottom out.”
Milwaukee has one of the league’s best “big threes” in Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard and Khris Middleton. But adding a fourth big-time scorer like Kuzma would help the Bucks close the gap with a Boston team that was heads-and-shoulders above the entire NBA last season.
Do you miss Kyle Kuzma on the Lakers? pic.twitter.com/4HbHDuOAVy
— Lakers Lead (@LakersLead) August 7, 2024
The 29-year-old Kuzma won an NBA championship with the Los Angeles Lakes in the 2020 Orlando bubble. A year later, he was traded to the Wizards in a blockbuster deal that brought Russell Westbrook to La La Land.
The trade has been a lopsided victory for the Wizards, to say the least. Kyle Kuzma has averaged 20.2 points, 7.4 rebounds and 3.8 assists per contest over his first three years in DC.
Kyle Kuzma Could Make Milwaukee The Team To Beat
The Celtics were virtually unbeatable last year after landing Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis to complement superstars Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. Milwaukee already has a potent “big three” in place, but a fourth big-time scorer like Kuzma could be the ultimate difference-maker that Holiday and Porzingis were for Boston’s big two.
Milwaukee sold the farm to land Lillard last year. But if Kuzma is available for the right price, the Bucks definitely need to make a play for him.
