Los Angeles Lakers rookie Kyle Kuzma has kept plenty busy in the early months of the offseason, making his rounds on the hottest TV shows in the NBA from Kevin Garnett’s “Area 21” to ESPN’s “The Jump”.
On Wednesday, Kuzma sat down with the guys at NBA TV’s “The Starters” to talk about his rookie season in a segment they called “Kuz the Boss?” During the segment, Kuzma finally cleared the air on the photo of himself that went viral earlier in the season.
For those that somehow forgot Kuzma’s face, here’s a quick refresher.
Big night around the League. Who's puttin' up the best numbers pic.twitter.com/1Pz91tEV6J
— SLAM Magazine (@SLAMonline) February 23, 2018
Never use this picture of me again https://t.co/LYsZBcc5Kv
— kuz (@kylekuzma) February 23, 2018
“This was during media day, our Lakers media day, and you s mile so much so much you just lose your natural smile,” Kuzma said of the photo. “I was just stuck in this pose for a good 20 seconds. You can’t keep a perfect smile for 20 seconds, I don’t care who you are and I got this creeper face going on.”
Naturally, the picture has haunted Kuzma everywhere on social media since, particularly in his mentions on Twitter.
“Every time I tweet something, and you look at the mentions, it’s that photo zoomed in,” Kuzma said.
I checked. He’s not kidding.
Luckily for Kuzma, there are much more flattering pictures of him out there thanks in part to the talented Ty Nowell and the Lakers digital team. But the internet is relentless and unforgiving.
Even long after Kuzma has played his last NBA game, that picture will never go away. It’s good to see he at least has a good sense of humor about it.
You can follow Christian Rivas on Twitter @RadRivas.