Kyle Kuzma is used to entering new basketball environments without the benefit of the doubt. He was a three-star recruit who played just eight minutes per game as a redshirt freshman at Utah. He was the Utes’ leading scorer by the time he left college, but he wasn’t projected as an NBA lottery pick and got drafted 27th overall in 2017.

For most of his adult basketball life, Kuzma always started in the back of the pecking order. He had gotten so proficient at climbing these ladders that he established himself as an essential member of the Lakers’ young core almost right away. During the 2017 Summer League, he streaked up the sidelines to complement Lonzo Ball’s 50-foot outlet passes, finished from every angle around the basket and flew off of screens to drill 28-footers.

He fit right in with the young and fast-paced Lakers, and the fan base embraced him immediately. The doldrums of late July through September incubated that optimism, and by the preseason the beginnings of Kuzmania started to form. A strong start to the season solidified it, culminating in a 30-point game within his first month as a pro.

The 2017-18 Lakers were the best of the recent pre-LeBron teams, and Kuzma’s role on it fit his natural inclinations. The Lakers were second in the NBA in pace and lacked a go-to guy, so opportunities were plentiful. He shared leading-scorer honors with Brandon Ingram and Julius Randle at 16.1 points per game on a team in which 35 wins represented progress.

In just three years, Kuzma had gone from the 11th man on his college team to one of the most productive and popular players on the NBA’s most popular team. He had finally climbed as high as he could — until LeBron James showed up.

It’s difficult for LeBron teams to overachieve. His talent and resume set championship contention as the floor of acceptable expectations for most of the last decade, and that clashed with the trajectory of the existing talent on the Lakers. Maybe Ingram, Ball and Kuzma would someday be ready to stand tall alongside James in a playoff atmosphere, but that’s a lot to ask from players at their age.

And thus the Young Core era of Lakers basketball ended on June 15, 2019, when the team acquired Anthony Davis in exchange for Ingram, Ball, Josh Hart and draft picks. Only Kuzma was left from the group of homegrown talent that defined the previous five seasons.

[ Listen to The Forum Club for more Lakers coverage ]

If the arrival of LeBron brought higher expectations, the addition of Davis brought a clear hierarchy to the Lakers — and finally one that Kuzma couldn’t scale. Gone were the touches and shot attempts that he enjoyed during his first two seasons and the freedom to make the game’s subtle mistakes.

Instead, Kuzma is earning his master’s degree in winning basketball this season — and on an accelerated program. He is not afforded the luxury of gradual progression that most other young players experience as their teams improve. There simply isn’t enough time for that with the Lakers’ sights set on a championship in June.

Basketball players face a series of algorithmic, if/then scenarios throughout a game. If the defense traps them on a pick-and-roll, then they should pass the ball to the screening big on the short roll. If the defense is fronting a post player, then they should swing the ball to the top of the key for a high-low post entry. The correct decision puts the team in a position to succeed on a possession, while the wrong choice compromises the integrity of the play.

Young players rarely thrive on championship contenders because they make the incorrect play far more often than their veteran counterparts. Kuzma’s growth in this area is a top priority for the Lakers in the second half of the season. They know how talented he is, but they need to be able to rely on him in high-pressure situations.

On the play below, Kuzma drives to the rim after Danny Green sets a ball screen, forcing Kevin Love to leave JaVale McGee to help. McGee then points up, calling for the lob. Kuzma holds onto the ball and misses a floater off of the glass instead.

McGee has been in this exact situation thousands of times in his NBA career. He knows when to cut, where to cut to and which pass the ballhandler should make. He knows that the lob is the correct read because Darius Garland is too small to break up the pass at those heights.

McGee is visibly irritated when Kuzma doesn’t make the pass and lets him hear about it. Kuzma protests, but McGee persists because the veteran knows that he’s right.

A similar scenario unfolded in the very next game. Danny Green set a ball screen, and Kuzma correctly recognized that he had an advantage if he attacked the basket because Wes Iwundu didn’t commit to the contain. McGee once again pointed his finger to the sky, and this time Kuzma obliged him. They shared a high-five, delighting in Kuzma’s adjustment.

These are the golden moments of incremental progress that are woven among Kuzma’s frustrating shooting nights. If fewer touches are the downside of playing on a contender, this is the benefit. These are the basketball lessons that will benefit Kuzma for the rest of his career.

But Kuzma still needs to grow as a passer to become a reliable on-ball threat. In the video below, he drives left on Clint Capela after the switch, leaving Eric Gordon to battle Dwight Howard for interior position. Kuzma ignores this mismatch and drives to his left instead. Harden recognizes that Gordon needs help and leaves Green open in the corner, but Kuzma misses him, too. This is one of those if/then aforementioned scenarios — if the weakside wing drops down to help on the mismatch in the post, then the correct read is the skip pass.

Kuzma’s failure to make that read at the appropriate time grinds the possession to a halt. He eventually identifies the open man and skips the ball to Green. It’s just that the pass is made well after most veterans would’ve made it, and it’s not at the peak of the advantage.

Kuzma’s performance in the Lakers’ 124-115 win over the Houston Rockets on Saturday night demonstrated progress toward his basketball maturity. He scored just five points on 2-for-6 shooting in the first half, but he didn’t let that negatively impact other aspects of his game.

Like many young players, Kuzma is prone to letting his offensive productivity determine his defensive aggression. He not only competed on that end in Houston, but just as importantly, he also made the right rotations at the right time.

Like many Rockets opponents this season, the Lakers double-teamed James Harden. This tactic resulted in the Lakers being in help rotations far more often than they usually are. Defenders must be focused and in sync in these situations, or else two defenders will scramble to the same place and leave someone wide open.

Kuzma switches onto Harden, and both Green and Avery Bradley converge on him, resulting in a triple team. Having three players on the ball is a defensive no-no, so the Lakers’ defense is compromised at this point.

McGee closes out to Ben McLemore on the wing as Kuzma skips that rotation to recover to Capela in the short corner. That seamless coordination between Kuzma and McGee effectively erases Houston’s advantage. Harden then drives right, and Kuzma immediately rotates to establish position just outside the restricted area. McGee recovers to help Capela, and Harden’s errant pass goes sailing out of bounds.

In previous years, Kuzma would hop, jump and skip when defending ballhandlers, making him vulnerable to crossovers and other changes of direction. It also allowed stronger opponents to dislodge him from his spot because his feet weren’t anchored to the floor. He still has lapses of happy feet but not nearly as often.

This improved discipline was most evident in his stellar second-half defense on Russell Westbrook.

Westbrook overpowered the Lakers’ guards en route to 22 points on 9-for-12 shooting in the first half. The Lakers countered with Kuzma’s size, one of the first times in his career where he has been given the responsibility of containing a player that his teammates couldn’t. Westbrook looks to get downhill, but Kuzma executes the game plan, retreating into the paint and contesting high while McGee provides additional support.

“I think offensively he was very good, but defensively in that third quarter, he took the challenge on Russ. Big step for the young fella.” James said on ABC after the game.

Constantly thinking about the right play runs counter to Kuzma’s basketball disposition. He’s an attacking, rhythm player, and any hesitation is detrimental to those attributes. He’s averaging career lows in points and shooting efficiency despite being surrounded by superstar gravity because he’s hesitating more than ever before.

Kyle Kuzma won’t reach his full potential until these basketball lessons become second nature. Finally being settled into a definitive role should help him do that. The Lakers have managed to go 34-8 before he’s been fully optimized, but they will need him to internalize everything that he’s learning now if they want to reach their ultimate goal.

Top photo of Kyle Kuzma: Bob Levey / Getty Images