[Hughes] Kyle Kuzma on the 5-team trade: “I mean, you gotta do that trade 10 out of 10 times. If you have an opportunity to get 5 good basketball players for one, it makes sense. Granted, Westbrook is obviously a Hall of Fame player & everything. He's an unbelievable player, don't take that wrong.”

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Kuzma was part of a five-team trade centered around an exchange with the Lakers that sent Russell Westbrook to L.A. and Kuzma, Montrezl Harrell and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to D.C.

The Wizards then flipped a draft pick for Aaron Holiday and signed Spencer Dinwiddie as part of the trade. Kuzma put on his GM hat after Friday's game to evaluate the deal in hindsight.

"I mean, you gotta do that trade 10 out of 10 times. If you have an opportunity to get five good basketball players for one, it makes sense. Granted, [Westbrook is] obviously a Hall of Fame player and everything. He's an unbelievable player, don't take that wrong," Kuzma said.

"But especially for a team like Washington, if you look at the track record from the past couple of years, it hasn't necessarily been enough ballplayers here... It's smart, you have to do it if you're a GM."

Those offseason moves, along with the hiring of head coach Wes Unseld Jr., have ignited a new era for the Wizards and they are off to a good start, having won their first two games. They beat the Pacers without Bradley Beal, their best player.

Kuzma has an NBA championship ring, so certainly a 2-0 start won't represent major big-picture progress to him. This is just the start of what he hopes is a "sturdy foundation" for the franchise.

But it was a good start and the fans were a part of it.

"We were even shocked on the bench. We were like 'yo, it's gonna be turnt up this year.' It definitely was surprising," he said.

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Great job from Tommy Sheppard.