Kyle Kuzma explains why meditation in a basketball setting can be dangerous

It’s always interesting to get insight on how an NBA player prepares for the big game.

Some players opt to stay loose by doing things like listening to music, while others decide to focus on the game in peace and quiet. Raptors big man Serge Ibaka has been known to use meditation to relax, though he did look anything but calm, cool and collected two weeks ago against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

But Ibaka isn’t the only pro ball player who uses meditation to stay loose. Lakers forward Kyle Kuzma, who was a recent guest on Inside the Green Room with Danny Green, says that up until a few weeks ago, he was a big fan of using this technique before the game.

“I think it gets you in a little zen mode,” Kuzma shared in the video above. “For most of the day I’m always, you know, laughing, making jokes. Cool, easy and laid back. But at game time I get really tense. And that’s [meditation] to get my brain and my body into a different type of mental mind state.”

However, he will likely adjust where he does his meditation after an incident a few games ago.

“But I stopped recently. I usually do it, like, three minutes before the anthem starts. I’ll sit there, close my eyes and I hear the crowd and I’m just visualizing what I want to do and what I plan to do. Last game — wait, was it last game? It was like five games ago — I was sitting there and I got hit in the face with the ball. And I was pissed, so I stopped.”

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