Photo: Instagram
They were on a yacht together over the Fourth of July.
By Rebekah Kuschmider — Written on Jul 08, 2019
Kendall Jenner spent the Jourth of July on a luxurious yacht, partying in true Kar-Jenner fashion. The pics of the boat were envy inspiring for sure, but what really got people talking was the presence of a man on board. Speculation abounded that Kendall has a new love interest.
It turns out that her fellow passenger is LA Lakers star Kyle Kuzma, a Michigan native who is a scoring powerhouse for the team. The pair could be seen close to one another on the boat, and they were both later spotted at a party on land. They were out as part of a larger group that included Jenner confidants Fai Khadra and Anastasia Karanikolaou.
Is Kendall involved with yet another NBA star this summer? And who is Kyle Kuzma? Is Kendall Jenner dating Kyle Kuzma? Read on for all the details.
1.Kyle
Kuzma grew up in the Flint, Michigan area and played basketball for the University of Utah. He was selected with the 27th overall pick by the Brooklyn Nets in the 2017 NBA draft, but he was traded to the Lakers before the draft ended. In his first season, he demonstrated that he was a high scorer and was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team. He has continued racking up points for the Lakers in the 2018-2019 season and was the MVP of the Rising Stars game.
Kuzma plays for the Lakers.
2. Fourth of July
E! News reported that Kendall was waxing sentimental about the Fourth of July on her Zaza World Radio show, saying “4th of July is arguably my top two favorite holidays...I don't know why I love it so much. It's the fireworks and the vibe. I just feel like you should be in love on 4th of July." With that in mind and her recent split of previous love interest Ben Simmons, she might have been on the hunt for a hot date for Independence Day.
3. Private
Jenner is notoriously private about her love life, keeping her relationships away from the cameras that film her family’s reality shows. Last year, she told Vogue Australia that she’s learned from her sisters’ experiences, saying: “I got a glimpse of how my sisters dealt with [the attention] and it’s cool to learn from that. For me, a lot of things are very special and very sacred, like my friends and relationships, and I personally think that bringing things into the public makes everything so much messier.” She went on to say “Also I’m very young and right now I feel like relationships aren’t always super-certain and I don’t want to bring too much attention to something if you don’t really know long term [what it’s going to be]. A relationship is only meant to be between two people, and the second you make it the world’s business is when it starts messing with the two people mentally. Like once everyone is let in, you’re letting all these opinions into your relationships, and I don’t think that’s fair.” She’s kept her boyfriends off camera, with none of the appearing on any of her family’s reality shows. The plot lines around her all deal with her work and her relationship to other Kardashians and Jenners.
4. Past loves
Kendall has been pretty successful in keeping her love life out of the glare of publicity. Her high school flings were fairly low key and happened largely off camera. But in 2013, however, she started dating One Direction star Harry Styles. The media nicknamed them Hendall and followed their relationship until its alleged end a year later. But paparazzi managed to catch the supposed-exes canoodling at different points until 2016. After Harry, here was a series of basketball stars in her life including Jordan Clarkson, Blake Griffin and Ben Simmons. She stuck with each of the ballers for about a year apiece and only broke her streak of dating NBA players with a relationship with rapper ASAP Rocky in 2017.
5. The real thing?
As for whether this relationship is something to write home about, Kendall, true to form isn’t saying anything. The pair aren’t following one another on social media, though Kuzma did show up in her photos from the yacht trip. But Refinery29 got in touch with Kuzma’s people and they threw some cold water on any fireworks between the basketball star and the model, saying “The rumor is a publicity stunt for Kendall.”
The main woman in Kuzma's life may be his mom.
Ouch. Get out the aloe vera because that hurts worse than sunburn.
Rebekah Kuschmider has been writing about celebrities, pop culture, entertainment, and politics since 2010. Her work has been seen at Ravishly, Babble, Scary Mommy, The Mid, Redbook online, and The Broad Side. She is the creator of the blog Stay at Home Pundit and she is a cohost of the weekly podcast The More Perfect Union.