Jonathan Kuminga’s fit with the Golden State Warriors was awkward from the start.
It came at the low point of the otherwise universally successfully partnership between Stephen Curry, Steve Kerr and Draymond Green. The three of them together cultivated a dynasty built around a style of basketball not seen anywhere else in the NBA. Isolation and traditional pick-and-roll were minimized in favor of motion concepts, quick passing and historic 3-point shooting. But the 2020 season was ruined by injuries, and with Klay Thompson out in 2021, the Warriors were knocked out in the Play-In Tournament. Kevin Durant was gone. The core was aging.
For the first time, the Warriors looked vulnerable. That was perhaps the only moment of doubt that Golden State’s brain trust ever experienced. But the draft gave them an out, a chance to either reinvent themselves or double down.
In 2020, they had the No. 2 pick. In 2021, they picked No. 7. Dynasties, even dynasties on intermission, rarely get lottery tickets like that. The Warriors could have used them on players like LaMelo Ball, Tyrese Haliburton or Franz Wagner, all of whom comfortably fit into their fast-paced, movement-heavy style. Instead, they spent both picks on players whose defining traits were their athletic gifts: Kuminga and James Wiseman.
As raw prospects, they were justifiable picks in the slots where they went. As possible Warriors, they were odd choices. Neither, at least in the moment, seemed like the sort of quick thinkers that typically excel in Golden State. The picks were almost a battle for Golden State’s soul. They could have recommitted to what worked. Instead, they went the other way. The Warriors, in that brief moment, tried to be something they weren’t. They tried to be normal. They took the players that made sense for everybody else and not for them.
It would be hard, at this stage, to think they don’t regret that. Even if they were operating on two timelines, they only ever acted in the best interests of one. The old group won a fourth championship immediately after drafting Kuminga, and it did so using the old ways. The lingering identity crisis was settled. The Warriors would not compromise their present to prepare for a different-looking future.
Wiseman was jettisoned quickly. Kuminga was a bit too good for that. He hasn’t lived up to his potential, but he’s flashed brilliance that Wiseman never did. Those undeniable physical traits were actually translating into some measure of tangible basketball production. You don’t score 16 points per game in the NBA by accident. The Warriors never had a downhill driver like him.
The appeal, in an offense that can create space rather easily with Curry, was obvious. They just wanted him to become whatever he was becoming within the confines of their system, one that preached selflessness and instinct rather than the personal exploration that most budding young talents need in order to figure out what they’re capable of becoming.
No compromise was ever really found. Kuminga reportedly lost faith in Kerr last season. Kerr somewhat publicly lost faith in Kuminga this year, at least within the parameters of his new, Jimmy Butler-centric lineup choices. Kuminga didn’t play in Golden State’s critical loss to the Clippers in the regular-season finale, nor did he suit up for the play-in victory over Memphis or Game 1 against Houston.
With restricted free agency looming and Kuminga’s talent sure to attract meaningful offers from less schematically dogmatic teams, the end of his time in Golden State appeared almost certain.
A team already paying Curry, Butler, Green and a handful of role players wasn’t going to be able to manage the apron-induced restrictions that would come with paying a youngster as promising as Kuminga if it wasn’t even going to use him. Kuminga was almost certain to exit in some fashion, leaving the Warriors to keep playing like the Warriors so long as Curry enabled it. Kuminga would go play normal basketball for a normal team and see what he could be outside of the dynasty’s shadow. A frustrating ending to a once-promising partnership.
Then Amen Thompson crashed into Butler, and suddenly, Kuminga potentially has become more essential than he’d ever been. As of this writing, we don’t know what Butler’s condition will be moving forward. He might miss the rest of Golden State’s first-round series against Houston or he might be ready to go in Game 3. If the answer is anything but the latter, the Warriors are in danger.
This was a sub-.500 team before Butler’s arrival, one devoid of secondary scoring to support Curry. They’re playing against one of the most athletic teams in the NBA, a top-five defense that can slow games down to a crawl with their rebounding and physicality and turn Golden State’s beautiful game into an ugly brawl.
As Durant has argued in the past, these circumstances were never ideal for Golden State’s system anyway. The harder things get, he believes, the more important individual creation becomes. Durant’s talents worked under any set of conditions. So did Butler’s. Most players are more fit-dependent, but the Warriors can’t be picky right now. Someone is going to have to create extra offense for them. Someone is going to have to match Houston’s physicality.
For perhaps the first time in this union’s history, Kuminga and the Warriors have a chance to act in alignment. If Butler is out or compromised, Golden State badly needs Kuminga to come in and generate offense in whatever way he is capable of. And if that opportunity is presented to him, he has to capitalize on it. Tens of millions of dollars are at stake. If some team is going to throw an expensive offer sheet at him over the summer, it would probably prefer to do so knowing he was capable of stepping up in the playoffs when his team needed it.
If he can’t, well, we’re living in apron world. Teams have never been more cautious about where they spend their money. If he gives them a reason not to give it to him, they’re not going to hesitate to take it.
His 26 minutes in Game 2 weren’t all that encouraging. Kuminga scored 11 points on 4-of-12 shooting. His presence didn’t create meaningful advantages against a terrifying defense. The Warriors lost his minutes, though in fairness, they lost everyone’s minutes. Now they go back to the drawing board for Game 3. In three days, they’ll face the Rockets again, and in all likelihood, Kuminga will be involved in that game in some meaningful way. He might be involved in several more afterward.
And how he does on that stage will define what probably will be his final chapter as a Warrior, which in turn will dictate what his next chapter with a new team might look like. This is one last chance for Kuminga and the Warriors to make the most of each other, and if either is going to be happy with how the next few months go, they’d better hope they nail it.