It was crystal clear that the Milwaukee Bucks' starting lineup just wasn't working. Needing a change, Doc Rivers called upon Kyle Kuzma to start for Gary Trent Jr. as the Bucks hosted Charlotte. It was a bold move, given that Kuzma has been rejuvenated playing off the bench this season and this could throw off his rhythm, but it didn't take long at all for those concerns to quiet down.
Kuzma led the Bucks to a needed bounce-back victory
In the past, the fear with Kuzma starting has been his habit of falling into the trap of thinking he is a star player rather than a complementary piece. Friday night, though he had a star-like performance, he did it in a way that felt natural. He scored off cuts and tough drives. He rebounded with purpose. He found open teammates. He certainly played some nice defense.
All of that fueled Kyle Kuzma's best showing as a Milwaukee Buck to date. He finished with 29 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, four steals, and a blocked shot. Offensively, he was efficient with his shots, going 11-of-17 from the floor, including 2-of-4 from deep. One of those 3-pointers came in overtime, as Kuzma's clutch bucket put the Bucks up by nine in the final two minutes.
Kuzma's effort was vital in helping the Bucks secure a 147-134 overtime victory to move to 2-0 in NBA Cup play.
It feels safe to say that Kuzma won't be heading back to the bench anytime soon. Obviously, he will not put up this kind of stat line every night, but if he can play a similar brand of basketball, it will only further vindicate Doc Rivers' decision here. With Taurean Prince injured and Amir Coffey struggling, his options were to stand pat or add Kuzma to the starting five. He chose right Friday night.
With Kuzma starting, Gary Trent Jr. finds himself demoted to the second unit for the second straight season. It's been a turbulent year for the wing thus far, with his offense taking a step back as he was forced to focus more on defense. This could be a great move for him, allowing the sharpshooter to primarily work on getting his shots to drop instead of guarding the opposing team's best wing.
It was just one game, but this change showed plenty of potential. Time will tell if the experiment of starting Kuzma goes differently than it did last year.
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