OAKLAND -- Asked on Friday about LeBron James and the Christmas Day game against the Cavaliers, Draymond Green quickly dismissed the question.
As someone who has missed five of the last six games, Green wanted to talk about the next opponent, the Lakers, whom the Warriors face Friday night at Oracle Arena.
More specifically, Green wanted to discuss fellow Michigander Kyle Kuzma, the rookie forward whose scoring ability with the Lakers is raising eyebrows around the NBA.
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“Kyle Kuzma had 38 a couple nights ago,” Green said after the team’s morning shootaround.
Green was referring to Kuzma’s career-high scoring performance in Houston on Wednesday, when the Lakers knocked off the Rockets to end their win streak at 14 games.
Kuzma, who was in the starting lineup because of an injury to center Brook Lopez, cooked the Rockets with 12-of-17 shooting from the field, including 7-of-10 from beyond the arc. After drawing rave reviews during Las Vegas Summer League, he leads the Lakers in scoring at 17.4 points per game.
“Some guys you look at them in Summer League and they play well in Summer League and then (in the NBA regular season) it’s a completely different level,” Green said. “Exactly what he was doing in Summer League, he’s carried over into the regular season.”
Golden State Warriors
While so many eyes have been on fellow Lakers rookie Lonzo Ball, Kuzma has scored in double figures in 20 of his last 22 games. He is second, behind Utah’s Donovan Mitchell (17.7), among all rookie scorers. Kuzma is shooting 50.7 percent overall, 40.9 percent from deep.
Green said has been aware of Kuzma for many years, as Kuzma’s hometown of Flint is only 37 miles from Green’s hometown of Saginaw. It’s apparent the veteran has been keeping an eye on the youngster.
“What’s been a pleasure for me to watch was just how much he was in the gym this summer,” Green said. “I’d be in LA and call him and he’s in the gym all day. Even now, on nights off, he’s in the gym.
"So it’s been great to watch how seriously he’s taking it. He wants to be great. And when you want to be great, you work and you give yourself a chance at it. He’s giving himself a shot at it. It’s been fun to watch.”
In addition to sharing the same home state, there is at least one more thing Green and Kuzma have in common. Both were drafted late, relative to their ability, as Green went 35th in 2012 and Kuzma 27th in 2017.
“It’s been great,” Green said of Kuzma’s phenomenal start. “When you looked at Kuz before, even in college, you’d see stretches where it’s like, ‘Oh, man, this kid is good and he’s skilled and he’s talented.’ Then you’d see some stretches where he just looked like he wasn’t interested at all. Which is why he was he was the 27th pick and not a Top-10 pick.
“Which (is something) a lot of people are beating themselves in the head now about.”
The same can be said of Green.