The question of “is LeBron holding Kyle Kuzma back” can now be definitively answered, and the answer is a definitive “no”. In a similar amount of minutes as last season, Kuzma is scoring more points, more efficiently. We are seeing right now how a player like Tristan Thompson was being held back by LeBron, and we all know that Chris Bosh was being held back by LeBron before the blood clots held him back even further, but it appears that Kuzma is not one of those players who will allow LeBron to hold him back.
Perhaps Kuzma is immune to LeBron’s powers of holding players back by virtue of the fact that he can comfortably play either forward position. Other players that have been held back by LeBron have needed a certain set of conditions to be met in order to be successful, such as playing one position and one position only, but Kuzma is more flexible than that. Usually being a “tweener” is a bad thing, but in Kuzma’s case, he can wear the “tweener” label with pride.
All this is good news for Laker fans who might have been worried that, after Kuzma’s somewhat slow start to the season, that he really WAS being held back by LeBron. I’m sure they had their trade scenarios ready for how they could get LeBron off the team and unleash the beast that is Kyle Kuzma. Those trade scenarios can be shelved, because LeBron and Kuzma have shown they can be beasts together.