Former Ute Kuzma Named Finalist for 2021 Tokyo Olympics

USA Basketball named former Utah Ute and current Los Angeles Laker Kyle Kuzma one of their 57 finalists for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics. The pool of players will eventually be whittled down to 12 names.

Last February, Kuzma was named a finalist for the prestigious team—at that time, the list was at 44 before the Summer Olympics were postponed. If Kuzma is named a member of USA Basketball, he’ll be the seventh Ute ever to play for the club.

The USA Basketball team, now headed by San Antonio Spurs head coach Greg Poppovich, has won the gold medal in the last three Olympic Games—in the Athens Games of 2004, they lost to the eventual champion, Argentina, in the semifinals.

While NBA players have comprised the makings of the team for three decades, many of the premier basketball players have elected to withdraw from the Games to prevent injury. In 2014, Paul George notoriously broke his leg in a USA Basketball scrimmage, which led to the withdrawals of players such as LeBron James, James Harden, Kawhi Leonard and other top NBA talent.

While not a requirement, the USA Basketball team draws from NBA players who have at least 3-4 years of NBA experience. Kuzma is in the middle of his fourth season with the Lakers. While he isn’t putting up the high volume scoring numbers in his first two seasons when Kuzma started, he’s enjoying his most efficient year yet. He’s shooting a career high 36% from three, 51% from the field and 11.5 points per game.