Milwaukee's finally experiencing what Washington fans tried to warn everyone about: Kyle Kuzma is the most maddeningly inconsistent player in basketball, and there's no pattern to predict which version shows up.
Look at the past two games. Against the Celtics in a 116-101 win, Kuzma dropped 31 points on 13-of-17 shooting with six rebounds. He looked like someone who could genuinely be a third option. Then the game before that: 15 points on 5-of-12 shooting with four rebounds. To start the month, there was also one night of four points in 21 minutes on 2-of-7 shooting.
The point, really, is that you never know what iteration of Kuzma you're getting on any given night. Sometimes you get a fringe star, other times you get a bench warmer, other nights you get a completely ordinary performance that wouldn't move the needle on any roster.
Kyle Kuzma's inconsistency is just who he is as a player
The consistency issues extend beyond just scoring. His past two games featured at least three turnovers and three personal fouls. So even when he's scoring efficiently, he's giving possessions and free throws right back to opponents through careless mistakes.
That's the Kyle Kuzma experience Washington lived through for years. One night he looks like a legitimate building block, the next he's a replacement-level forward who hurts your team as much as he helps. You can't build championship rotations around that kind of volatility.
Doc Rivers and company are in the unenviable position of having to figure out which Kuzma to plan for each night. Do you run plays for the guy who just went 13-for-17, or do you minimize his touches because he might be the 5-for-12 version? There's no way to know until the game starts, and by then it's too late to adjust.
The maddening part is that Kuzma clearly has the talent. The Celtics game proved he can dominate when everything clicks. But with a player as up-and-down as Kuzma is, you might as well just be hoping for good luck.
But there's a silver lining that may be Kuzma's redeeming qualty, and it's on the other side of the ball.
Even when his shot is off, Kuzma is one of the team's most consistent defenders. Per Cleaning the Glass, opposing teams score -5.2 fewer points per 100 possessions when Kuzma is on the floor, putting him in the 79th percentile in defensive rating. According to matchup data on NBA.com/stats, offensive players are shooting 97-of-236 or 41.1 percent when Kuzma is the closest defender.
The main problem is offensive consistency on a team that needs it.
The three turnovers and three fouls every single game, regardless of shooting percentage, are almost impressive in their consistency. That's the one thing Wizards fans could count on at the time: Kuzma would make multiple careless mistakes even on his best nights.
Wizards fans are watching Milwaukee go through this realization in real time and probably laughing. They tried to tell us, but there are some things you have to experience firsthand before you truly understand them.
Milwaukee's discovering the same frustrating reality. Kuzma's going to have games that make you think you've unlocked something special, followed immediately by performances that remind you why he's been traded multiple times despite obvious talent.
He will have 31 points one night, four the next. That's not adjustment; that's just Kyle Kuzma being Kyle Kuzma. Milwaukee better get used to it, because it's not changing anytime soon.