WASHINGTON — The postgame embraces told a story.
One by one, after the final buzzer sounded Friday night, at least nine Washington Wizards players — Jordan Poole, Alex Sarr, Corey Kispert, Kyshawn George, Bilal Coulibaly and Bub Carrington among them — and assistant coaches J.J. Outlaw and David Vanterpool approached former teammate Kyle Kuzma, gave Kuzma a hug and chatted for a bit, with smiles on everyone’s faces.
Kuzma savored the moment.
“It means everything, really,” he said 30 minutes later. “For us, we poured in so many, so many hours together, and everybody over there I love and definitely will always keep in contact with.”
For Kuzma, it was a special homecoming, even though he’s the first person to acknowledge he wanted the Wizards to trade him after 3 1/2 seasons. His new team, the Milwaukee Bucks, defeated the Wizards 104-101 at Capital One Arena, and Kuzma performed effectively, playing solid defense as he scored 19 points, collected eight rebounds and dished out five assists.
“He’s such a big factor for us, and you can see it,” Bucks coach Doc Rivers said afterward. “Then, defensively, he’s been absolutely magnificent for us.”
Kuzma occupies a critical role for Milwaukee, especially now that forward Bobby Portis recently started to serve a 25-game suspension for testing positive for tramadol. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard are the Bucks’ two best options on offense, but Kuzma slots as an important jack of all trades: a third option who can make plays for teammates and take on difficult defensive matchups.
In Washington, he left a complicated on-court legacy. He was rarely efficient, gained a reputation for hoisting ill-advised shots and played with diminished defensive effort. This season, nagged by injuries and chafing at a reduced role on offense amid the Wizards’ historically bad start, he grew frustrated enough that he hoped for — and toward the end, expected — a trade. At 29 years old, with the Wizards at least several years away from contending, Kuzma wanted to move to a contender.
“Yeah, for sure,” Kuzma said Friday night. “I don’t think it was a secret. I think the writing was on the wall in a sense here, and (I’m) not saying that was a good or a bad thing. You know, I think everything in life really has an expiration date, and it was my time to go, and it was my time to go (in a way that was) beneficial to all parties involved. This organization (Washington) has a bright future. They have a plan that they’re trying to accomplish with the rebuild and growing and developing these players, and they’re doing a great job.”
The Wizards found a willing trade partner with the Bucks. On Feb. 6, as part of a four-team deal, Washington sent Kuzma and a 2025 second-round pick to Milwaukee. Washington received veteran forward Khris Middleton, rookie guard AJ Johnson, the right to a 2028 first-round pick swap and cash.
Kuzma went to a team that is trying to win a title right now, led by two established stars, Antetokounmpo and Lillard.
Wizards assistant coach David Vanterpool, center Richaun Holmes and guard Bub Carrington were among those who exchanged hugs with Kyle Kuzma in Kuzma’s return to Washington. (Geoff Burke / Imagn Images)
On Friday night, Kuzma displayed many of the characteristics that could make him a valuable cog in a Bucks playoff run. In the third quarter, with Antetokounmpo battling foul trouble and Lillard sitting out to protect his right hamstring on the second night of a back-to-back, Kuzma helped Milwaukee overcome a deficit and take control of the game, scoring 10 points and assisting on two other Milwaukee baskets.
He was effective, but even he felt a bit awkward. In the first quarter, Sarr made a nice defensive play, prompting Coulibaly to dap Sarr. Kuzma then dapped Coulibaly, with Kuzma saying after the game that he made an absent-minded mistake “just on instinct.”
“That was actually crazy because I realized it right after that,” Coulibaly recalled after the game, smiling. “I was like: ‘Kuz, man, we’re not on the same team anymore. What are we doing, man?’ So, yeah, that was fun.”
Coulibaly, in his second NBA season, credits Kuzma for helping him become a better player. “He talked to me a lot,” Coulibaly said. “He still talks to me. He helped me, for sure.”
Kuzma, in turn, credits the Wizards for elevating his career. Although he won the 2019-20 NBA championship as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers, he served then as a role player. In Washington, he became a second offensive option behind Bradley Beal, and then often the top option when Beal was injured and after Beal was traded before the 2023-24 season. In 2023, the Wizards re-signed Kuzma to a four-year contract worth a total of $90 million guaranteed.
“I wouldn’t trade this experience and being here and being a Wizard for anything,” he said. “I think it was a great time for me, a time of growth, a time of figuring out who I am as a person. That’s something that I, obviously, didn’t really know too much when I was younger in L.A. Being here and being much more calm here, (this is) a place where you can kind of figure those type(s) of things out, grow as a man, become a man. I tightened up on being a pro. This experience for the last 3 1/2 years was everything for me.”
Friday provided a fitting bookend to that tenure. When the public-address announcer introduced him before tipoff as the final member of the Bucks’ starting lineup, a portion of the crowd yelled, “Kuuuz!”
And the night ended with a victory.
Something he experienced all too rarely as a member of the Wizards.
(Top photo: Geoff Burke / Imagn Images)
