Kyle Kuzma has taken his fair share of trolling as a member of the Milwaukee Bucks. Let’s face it, his arrival at the 2025 trade deadline was followed with some of the worst basketball by any individual in the league. Inefficient and mistake prone on both ends of the floor, he registered a -12.4 on-off rating that ranked in the fifth percentile.
This season, he actually hasn’t been that bad. He doesn’t grade out well offensively, due largely to an inefficient three-point shot. But his overall shot diet is much improved and he’s cut down on silly giveaways.
His still sub-average defensive on-off rating doesn’t quite match the eye test. Kuzma has been a perfectly capable wing defender, the best on the Bucks’ roster.
Still, Bleacher Report doesn’t see his bounceback season as enough. Kuzma ended up No. 9 in their top 10 list of the league’s most overrated players led by Draymond Green.
Calling Kuzma overrated feels…outdated
In part, BR’s harsh appraisal is based, justifiably, on Kuzma’s outsized contract.
“Currently playing on a four-year, $90 million deal, Kuzma is being paid like a starter yet should be viewed as a seventh or eighth man on a playoff team,” observes analyst Greg Swartz.
In part, it’s due to his promise entering the league as the 27th overall pick in 2017:
“Kyle Kuzma looked like a future star when he first entered the NBA, as the athletic 6’8″ forward finished fourth in Rookie of the Year voting for the Los Angeles Lakers.”
And in part, it is linked to his perceived acquisition as an attempted talent upgrade.
“The Milwaukee Bucks’ big trade deadline acquisition last year, Kuzma has failed to even establish himself as a full-time starter this season for a team desperate to make the playoffs and keep Giannis Antetokounmpo happy.”
In reality, despite the rhetoric about youth and athleticism, was that move a horribly judged talent grab? Or was it made primarily to dump Khris Middleton‘s money and duck the second apron ahead of the offseason? Perhaps a little of both, but motivated far more heavily by the latter.
Kuzma certainly never ascended to stardom, but in Washington, he did put up the numbers to play the part. Empty numbers, as the Bucks found out after trading for him.
Really, though, few have viewed him highly for several years at least. He arguably peaked with the Lakers as a solid two-way role player. He has never been efficient. His defense fell off with the Wizards. Any hope Bucks fans did have was dashed post-trade, when Kuzma became a league-wide meme and laughing stock. In a playoff game, he notoriously posted a nearly all-zero box score in considerable minutes.
To his credit, he has played his role as a cutter, defender, and catch-and-shooter. Kuzma has come off the bench; he has started. For the most part, he has done what’s asked. It all adds up to 12.9 PPG, five rebounds, and 2.5 assists on 48.1% shooting.
No, his -4.6 combined on-off differential isn’t pretty. At this point, though, no one expected anything better. Most Bucks fans feared far worse. For that reason, including Kuzma among the NBA’s most overrated names doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
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