NBA: Kyle Kuzma, Dwight Howard Will Affect LeBron James' Scoring, Former Celtic Says

Kyle Kuzma and Dwight Howard may affect LeBron James’ scoring and MVP run this season, according to a member of the Boston Celtics 2008 championship team.

Despite losing to the Toronto Raptors, the Lakers are still perceived as one of the best contenders for an NBA championship. Along with the championship talks is James’ 5th MVP run. And while some think that James is an early MVP candidate this season, NBA champ and 6-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year Tony Allen stated his case why “The King” is “highly unlikely” to win this year’s MVP honors.

In a recent appearance on “Speak For Yourself,” Allen was asked about his thoughts on the James MVP talks this season. According to Allen, James isn’t on his MVP mode at the moment and will definitely need the help of guys like Kuzma and Howard now that he’s on his 17^th year in the league.

“I think LeBron is jut in ‘get it done’ mode,” Allen noted.

“He’s gonna have that need to help from shoulders of [Kyle] Kuzma, looking forward to him to getting help from Dwight Howard,” Allen continued.

Allen also predicted James’ numbers for the whole season and insisted that the scoring category will “fluctuate” should Kuzma and Howard step up to help James along the road.

“The scoring? It might fluctuate. Cause you’re gonna need help from those other guys. Get those other guys confidence. You want Kuzma feeling good, you want Dwight feeling good,” Allen emphasized.

Kuzma is indeed a lethal scorer and in fact, on Sunday against the Raptors , he made a season-high three 3-pointers, all of which came during a fourth quarter stretch where the Lakers were in need of a few big baskets. However, with the game within reach, Kuzma missed back-to-back open 3-pointers and allowed Pascal Siakam to score on the other end.

Lakers head coach Frank Vogel remains patient with Kuzma as the explosive forward didn’t get to play in the preseason due to a stress of playing for Team USA in August.

“He’s still finding his way. Offensively, within our system, where his shots are gonna come (from). Being assertive but not too assertive,” Vogel said about Kuzma’s return.

“And then defensively, within our coverages, you know he’s been pretty good defensively up to tonight. [Kuzma] had some good stretches tonight, but you know he’s still in the process of getting his legs under him, getting his rhythm and timing on both ends of the floor,” Vogel added.