WASHINGTON -- Kyle Kuzma revealed in a jumbotron segment at Capital One Arena during a recent game that he eats the same meals every single gameday. He begins his day with a Denver omelet (ham, onions, peppers and cheese) with a waffle, and before the game for dinner, he eats a dish with either pesto or marinara sauce.Â
Not surprisingly, it is about superstition and routine, as he explained after Wednesday's shootaround.
"That just comes with being in the NBA and understanding when you have a good game, you kind of want to feel like, okay, what did I do when I had a good game," he said, later adding: "And, I like omelets. It’s not that bad. You eat breakfast every day."
Kuzma remarked during his press conference he has a personal chef, as many NBA players do. That prompted a follow-up question, which invited a thoughtful answer about why he chose to get one himself.
This is Kuzma's fifth NBA season and he says he's had a chef from Day 1.
"That was my first purchase as soon as I got in the league. I grew up eating McDonald’s and Little Caesar’s pizza. I knew once I got money, that’s the one thing I really wanted to harp in on," Kuzma said.
"I do love eating and with my family genetics, if I don’t eat right, I would get big. Having a chef is super, super important. It also just takes a lot of stress out of your life. I’m not looking at the clock at home at 6:30 [p.m.], like what am I about to eat? I just walk upstairs and it’s on my table."
While the part about having dinner ready-made by a personal chef sounds luxurious, the reasoning for him getting one is a window into where he came from. Kuzma grew up in Flint, MI and comes from modest means. He has said before he feels like he wasn't supposed to make it this far, that he beat the odds.
Now he has a chef and, if Kuzma is eating the same omelet every gameday, they must be pretty good.