NBA: Rising Lakers Star Shifts Career Into High Gear Sans Agent

For any NBA player, most know that there is business tied up to their basketball careers. And to help them reach certain goals, having the right agent and mentors is an obvious must. This is seen as the reason behind Kyle Kuzma's decision to part ways with Priority Sports and Entertainment after roughly two years.

When Kuzma entered the NBA in 2017, he signed with Priority Sports after he decided to skip his senior season in Utah, ESPN reported. The decision turned out to be a good one seeing how the 23-year-old made noise in two seasons. Aside from that, he is the only notable young cager in the Lakers roster who is still around. Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart, and Brandon Ingram are no longer around and are now with the New Orleans Pelicans because of the Anthony Davis deal. Pundits feel that there is a reason behind it all even though the 27th overall pick of the 2017 NBA Draft finds himself surrounded with established stars.

And while Kuzma and Priority Sports and Entertainment have cut their ties, it seems that there are no hard feelings about it. Mark Bartelstein wishes the 6-foot-9 power forward nothing but the best and added that their visions were simply not aligned, The Los Angeles Times reported.

"This was simply a situation in which it became clear our visions were not aligned. When that is the case, it simply does not make sense to continue our partnership. Once again, I want nothing but great things for Kyle," Bartelstein said.

It remains to be seen who Kuzma will sign up with next although there are suggestions that he could end up signing with Klutch Sports. Should this go down, it would hardly come as a surprise considering LeBron James, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Davis are all under the group managed by Rich Paul.

Heading into the season, it will be interesting how Kuzma can get his fair share of playing time. But if first-year head coach Frank Vogel is to be believed, it looks like he has great plans for the young forward - particularly on the defensive end in an interview with Ron Gutterman of Lakers Nation. The past two seasons showed that he can do damage on offense and apparently Vogel feels that developing his role on defense can further boost his evolution as a player.