Open Thread: Why the Spurs shouldn’t pursue players like Kyle Kuzma

The NBA Draft was easy. Spurs got the #1, and the #1 was a no-brainer. Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs seem to be a match made in heaven.

The NBA free agency. Now that’s an entirely different beast.

The Spurs are just behind the Houston Rockets and Utah Jazz in cap space giving them the flexibility to pursue great acquisitions when free agency begins this Friday.

Bleacher Report seems to think the Spurs should go after Washington Wizards’ Kyle Kuzma.

“Kuzma has his detractors, but he’s championship-tested and might find his next level as a player under Gregg Popovich,” Bleacher Report writes. “He’s the exact type of player Popovich has thrived at finding the perfect role for over the course of his coaching career.”

Kuzma averaged a career-high 21.2 points, a steady improvement that has been trending upward since the 2019-2020 season.

The 2020 NBA Champion has already declined his offer from the Wizards, and considering all the retooling that is going on in Washington, the Flint, Michigan native may be looking for a new spot to land.

I must admit, Kyle Kuzma did not strike me as the first choice for the Spurs, but the 2017 draftee has played alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis on their way to the Lakers 17th franchise title. If anything, Kuzma is a great scorer with good rebounding and decent ability to assist.

How he would pair with Wembanyama and fit into the Spurs system would be an interesting experiment. Possibly a costly one.

Why do people keep trying to put vets — unaccustomed to San Antonio and Pop’s ways — onto a Spurs team whose strength this season will come from them learning how to play together? I mean, how will it help the Spurs long term to have a 20-points-per-game 27-year-old taking up shots and minutes in 2023-24 before anyone knows how good Victor will be?

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