In the second year of CHARGE’s 25-under-25 list for strongest athlete brands, the Los Angeles Lakers were featured as forward Kyle Kuzma was tapped as having the 20th strongest brand amongst athletes at, or under, 25 years old across all sports.
Kuzma, 23, was an All-Rookie First Team inductee last season. After getting selected with the 27th pick in the 2017 NBA Draft, he exceeded expectations averaging 16.1 points and 6.3 rebounds per game on 36.3 percent three-point shooting.
The Lakers were not originally supposed to have that pick, though. Kuzma was initially drafted by the Brooklyn Nets but was traded to LA in a draft-day trade that saw Timofey Mozgov and D’Angelo Russell get moved for Brook Lopez and the rights to that spot in the draft.