In sports, there are always curious phenomenons. The way momentum shifts and how it can affect performance. The way playing at home gives teams an advantage. Even the idea of switching shoes in the locker room after a rough half to shift the energy. That’s why the Golden State Warriors can only scratch their heads at Jonathan Kuminga now playing better coming off the bench than with the starters.
Can Warriors Play To Jonathan Kuminga’s Strengths As Starter?
This season, the Warriors are 3-0 since Kuminga was moved to the bench, even with Stephen Curry out each of those games. Last season, that was far from the case. The Warriors were 13-15 when Kuminga came off the bench versus 27-19 when he started.
There are caveats of course.
Two of Golden State’s wins have come against the New Orleans Pelicans. The Pelicans were missing starting point guard Dejounte Murray in their first matchup with the Warriors. In their rematch, they were missing Murray, starting shooting guard CJ McCollum, and starting forward Herb Jones. When they defeated the Houston Rockets, an up and coming team, it took an overtime period.
However, Kuminga’s play wasn’t necessarily dependent upon the opponent, he simply played better. He looked more comfortable. He finished better. The former top-10 pick was even more efficient from outside.
In the first three games of the season, Kuminga averaged 8.0 points in 19.7 minutes per game, shooting 33.3 percent from the floor and 11.1 percent from three-point range. Golden State looked as out of sorts as he did, going winless in this stretch. In his last three games, Kuminga has averaged 18.7 points in 27.3 minutes per game, shooting 51.4 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from deep.
Kuminga had a very impactful 23 points against the Rockets yesterday. Still lots of room for growth in consistency and ball security on offense and patience as well as utilizing his athleticism on defense; his ceiling is insanly high.
Here is what his 23 points looked like:#NBA… pic.twitter.com/8FoCvQyhUE
— Swish Stats (@SwishStatistics) November 3, 2024
Square Peg, Round Hole
Kuminga’s touch was definitely off to start the season, but there’s far more to his early struggles.
In the first three games of the Warriors season, he was a stretch forward. There are multiple ways he could have played off of his teammates in that role. However, the simplest way was to take catch-and-shoot threes, many of which would presumably be open.
To put it bluntly, Kuminga bombed in those performances. After three games, he was 1-9 from deep. To make matters worse, he had only taken 24 total field goal attempts, meaning 37.5 percent of his shots came from beyond the arc. It’s no wonder why he was only averaging 8.0 points per game.
When Curry exited the lineup with a sprained ankle, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr had the option to make Kuminga the focal point of his offense. At the time, Andrew Wiggins was sidelined as well. It seemed like an ideal time to get more out of a player who had been discussed like a future cornerstone.
Yet, Kerr decided to lean on the trio of Buddy Hield, Brandin Podziemski, and Moses Moody; the latter two have started in each of the last three games. On the one hand, this was done to improve their spacing. Kerr, the mastermind behind the Warriors’ vaunted offensive scheme, also seems more comfortable running a system that’s built around movement and three-point shooting.
Meanwhile, Kuminga likes to iso more than spot-up. He likes to attack the rim more than float around the arc. Frankly, he’s just not the type of player that truly fits the Warriors’ agenda.
“Why settle, when I can get to the rim? That’s the mentality,” Kuminga said, regarding his offensive approach in overtime.
More: pic.twitter.com/69Klq6nfwL
— Sam Gordon (@BySamGordon) November 3, 2024
Wiggins, who had to dramatically alter his shot profile after being traded to Golden State, is another example of that. Consider that with the Warriors, 36.7 percent of Wiggins’s shot attempts have been threes. With the Minnesota Timberwolves, his prior team, just 21.5 percent of his field goal attempts were three-pointers.
It’s Just How The Cookie Crumbles
Unlike say Kevin Durant, who won two Finals MVP awards with Golden State, Kuminga doesn’t have enough cachet to make Kerr conform to him though. This begs the question of whether Kuminga will ever truly thrive with the Warriors in a starting role. That being said, unless Golden State acquires a starting-caliber stretch center or Draymond Green becomes a player teams decide they have to guard beyond the arc, it’s hard to have faith that he will.
Thats not a knock on him, it’s just how the cookie has crumbled. As previously mentioned, sports are full of strange occurrences. An All-Star-caliber player looking better (or worse) depending on their situation is just one of them. Fortunately for Kuminga, he may land somewhere where he’s more appreciated when he becomes a restricted free agent next summer.
