Now that the Milwaukee Bucks have officially missed out on small forward Peyton Watson, it's safe to assume their offseason moves are finished. And that means good news for one player from last season's roster: Kyle Kuzma.
Kuzma was originally thought to be moved this offseason along with Bobby Portis, who was eventually included as part of the Giannis Antetokounmpo trade with the Miami Heat. Given his age and relative inconsistency throughout last season, it's perfectly understandable that the team wanted to move on from his services. And it's likely, too, that he would have been thrown into any move to land Watson. But now that the dust has settled, it's more than likely he's staying put -- as the starting small forward for the time being.
Kyle Kuzma staying means he keeps his starting spot for the Milwaukee Bucks
With the pursuit of Watson officially dead, Kuzma’s path to a locked-in, high-usage starting role just went from probable to virtually set in stone.
Let's look at the forward rotation. If Horst had successfully engineered a deal for Watson, Kuzma would have walked into training camp staring down a crowded hierarchy, with trade rumors swirling and a frontline crowded with overlapping skill sets. Instead, the market dried up.
For all the chatter about the youth movement in Milwaukee, with them landing the likes of Brayden Burries and Nate Ament in this year's draft, a look up and down the roster proves this team still needs functional, veteran professional scoring to survive an 82-game grind under Taylor Jenkins. Kuzma provides that floor. He is a multi-level scorer with championship pedigree who can gobble up minutes at the three or four, offering a steadying presence while the teenagers figure out the speed of the association.
Size matters, too. Save for Jaime Jaquez and maybe Ousmane Dieng, nobody else on this roster has the height and length to take on the Jayson Tatums of the world. And among the three, there's still a strong argument to be made that Kuzma is the most competent.
Kyle Kuzma has another opportunity to show what he can do in this league
The front office wanted a splashy external upgrade to fill their wing void. They didn't get it. But by default, they’ve handed the keys of the starting forward spot right back to Kuzma. And that's not the worst thing in the world with a roster like this.
Here's something not many are ready to admit about Kuzma: he actually hasn't been too bad this season. According to Cleaning the Glass, opponents scored -2.1 points per 100 possessions when Kuzma was on the floor this season, which is good for the 70th percentile in defensive rating among wings. With the likes of Tyler Herro and Ryan Rollins on the roster, Kuzma won't have to carry the bulk of the scoring, which can hopefully allow him to focus on the defensive side of the ball, where he can provide the most value.
He might not be the long-term defensive stopper they envisioned in Watson, but for Kuzma personally, the missed trade is a massive win. The job is his to lose, and now it's up to him to prove the front office was right not to look elsewhere.
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