The Golden State Warriors played poorly in their Game 2 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, but Jonathan Kuminga didn’t. The fourth-year forward led the team with 18 points on 8-of-11 shooting.
“I feel like the confidence just came back,” he told reporters after the game.
He could be forgiven for losing it, under the circumstances.
Every time it seems as though Kuminga is turning a corner, something goes wrong. A late campaign for Most Improved Player was derailed by injury last season. Another injury kept him out for two months this season, and when he returned, the team had changed completely around him. The .500 group in which he had a clear role was gone. Jimmy Butler was acquired, championship aspirations were legitimized, and suddnely, Kuminga’s place on the team was in doubt.
“The lineup with Jimmy, Jonathan and Draymond [Green] doesn’t fit real well,” Steve Kerr said in April.
Days later, Kuminga was removed from the rotation for the regular-season finale. The first round series win over the Rockets was a bit of a roller coaster. He got a chance to regain playing time when Butler got hurt in Game 2, but did little with it. Desperation against Houston’s seemingly impenetrable zone defense got him some more run in Game 7, but he was shaky in only seven minutes. Every time the team faced a new obstacle, they flirted with the idea of trying to solve it with Kuminga.
It never quite clicked.
Until Game 2 against Minnesota. With Stephen Curry out and the Timberwolves desperate to tie the series before it shifted to San Francisco, a win was always going to be a tall order. Sure enough, Minnesota won comfortably, but Kuminga was the lone bright spot for Golden State. If he needed a confidence boost, Game 2 provided ideal circumstances for him to find one.
Curry is about as revered a teammate as exists in the modern NBA. The overwhelming majority of players who join his team benefit significantly from his presence. But playing with him means conforming to a style that isn’t tailored to everyone. Some players simply aren’t suited to the quick reads and constant motion that the Curry offense relies on. Frequently, bigger scoring forwards are the toughest fits. Kelly Oubre Jr. is a recent example. He’s been a valuable role player everywhere — except for Golden State.
Kuminga might just be a more talented example of that phenomenon. He’s never quite clicked in the Golden State system, and he hasn’t been able work as a supporting piece within it because his 3-point shot remains inconsistent. But with Curry out and Golden State in desperate need of offense in whatever form it could be generated, Kuminga’s more traditional game showed quite a bit of promise.
He generated baskets attacking downhill against less athletic defenders, but he also moved comfortably into the sort of midrange jumpers Golden State would probably prefer him not to take under normal circumstances. Given the desperate situation, though, he was free to find his own rhythm.
It’s not a permanent solution to his issues with the Warriors, but rather a potentially beneficial short-term arrangement for both sides. The Warriors need offense from someone, anyone, to stay alive until Curry can return. Kuminga, headed for restricted free agency, likely lost quite a bit of market value over the past month as he fell out of favor in Golden State. A couple of big games serves both agendas: Potentially keeping the Warriors alive, and showing the rest of the NBA what Kuminga could look like on a slightly more traditional roster.
So the floor is probably his for the next few games. He may not start due to those fit issues with Butler and Green, but the 26 minutes he played in Game 2 is likely an appropriate baseline. He will have a chance to generate his own offense with bench units, and if it goes well, perhaps with the starters as well.
Every time it seems as though the Kuminga era in Golden State is well and truly over, something inevitably forces him back onto the floor. He finally started to make the most of those chances on Thursday, and if this is what he looks like with his confidence back, he has a chance to continue to thrive when the series moves back to California.
