Kyle Kuzma switches agents to Leon Rose and CAA, is reportedly being chased by Nike, Jordan Brand and Puma in shoe free agency

After parting ways with Mark Bartelstein and Zach Kurtin of Priority Sports and Entertainment in July, Los Angeles Lakers forward Kyle Kuzma has found his next agent. According to Tania Ganguli of the L.A. Times and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, Kuzma will head to Creative Artists Agency (CAA), where he’ll be repped by Leon Rose.

Rose is a longtime NBA agent, and was Kuzma’s teammate LeBron James’ last representative before he switched to Rich Paul of Klutch Sports.

The on and off-court representation factor here looms large, because while Kuzma may be locked up for another two season with the Lakers, he is looking for his next shoe deal after his pact with Nike expired this summer. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, he has several suitors interested in his services.

This summer, Kuzma is also a shoe-deal free agent and has received strong interest from endorsement companies, including Nike, Jordan Brand and Puma, sources said. Kuzma’s business manager, Vin Sparacio, has held ongoing discussions with interested companies.

This isn’t necessarily inside knowledge of where Kuzma will go next, but back at an event in 2017 during Kuzma’s rookie season, he mentioned to a scrum of reporters that he really liked playing in Jordans, something he couldn’t do because of his pact with Nike. This didn’t seem to be a complaint, really, just him being asked about what shoes he liked other than the ones he endorsed.

And Kuzma has seemed pretty happy with Nike during his first two years in the league. He’s been prominently featured by the company as well, most notably in a commercial for the Kobe 1 Protro and in him being chosen as one of the players to debut the self-lacing Nike Adapt BB.

We’ll see where Kuzma heads next in his career, but we now know who will be helping guide that next step both on and away from the court. For players as important to the Lakers’ future as Kuzma is, that’s always worth keeping tabs on.

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