Kyle Kuzma has been one of the few bright spots for the struggling Lakers this season, but after an embarrassing 133-96 loss (their eighth straight) to the Thunder, he didn’t bite his tongue about the effort he felt his teammates were exhibiting.
Via ESPN:
“We gave up,” Kuzma said. “You could see, they got basket after basket, we had no resistance on them on the defensive end and offensive end. When things got tough, we tried to do it individually, and you can’t do that in this league.
“They took a little lead, and we just went to being selfish on the floor. We didn’t compete on defense. They killed us. … To lose by [nearly] 40, it is pretty embarrassing to be out there.”
The Lakers were already going to be pretty bad, but with Lonzo Ball, Brook Lopez, Brandon Ingram sidelined with injuries; they’ve been downright unwatchable.
Not to mention Kentavious Caldwell-Pope can’t play outside of Cali due to legal troubles.
“I think injuries have a little bit to do with it,” head coach Luke Walton said. “This is something we will fix. We are not going to start getting blown out now. We are not going to start feeling sorry for ourselves. We are going to get back in the gym, go to work, show film. I believe in the character of our team. We will fix it.”
A small glimmer of hope lies on the horizon though, as Ball is set to return to practice & could play vs Charlotte on Friday.