Golden State Warriors: Jonathan Kuminga’s stock growing by the game

It’s easy to remember that second-year forward Jonathan Kuminga was out of the Golden State Warriors’ rotation for much of the early stretch of this season. Juggling minutes between the franchise’s trio of recent lottery picks, Kuminga was often left on the backburner by head coach Steve Kerr.

Fast-forward to now and it’s clear that Kerr’s trust in the 20-year-old is growing by the game. In a nationally televised, high-stakes game on Saturday night, Kuminga continued his excellent recent play with an impactful game off the bench against the Boston Celtics.

Leapfrogging teammates into a more solidified role, Jonathan Kuminga is developing into a mainstay of the Golden State Warriors rotation.

Even once he cracked the rotation, Kuminga was battling for minutes alongside two-way player Anthony Lamb. But now, after some period of time, it appears Kerr has seen the light in prioritizing the player who could develop into a future star.

Kuminga has now played more minutes than Lamb in six of the last eight games, including the Celtics matchup in which he played 21 minutes to Lamb’s 10. His 14 point, five rebound, three assist display also included perhaps the biggest highlight of his short career — a thunderous dunk over Celtics star and MVP candidate Jayson Tatum.

He was also part of a Warriors unit that kept Tatum to just 18 points on 6-for-21 shooting, proving one of the major catalysts in the Warriors 123-107 victory. Of course, there’s always going to be the ‘rookie’ moments where it’s obvious that Kuminga has a long way to go.

During the third-quarter on Saturday night, Klay Thompson, coming off a three the previous possession and sitting on a scorching 32 points, gave the ball up and sought to relocate in the left corner. Kuminga failed to identify it, clogging the space himself as Thompson ran over. The lack of spacing resulted in a brick from Thompson that left him visibly frustrated.

However, these types of mistakes are becoming far less common and are greatly outweighed by all the positives he’s bringing. Thompson was one of many teammates, alongside Draymond Green and Jordan Poole, who outwardly expressed emotion for Kuminga’s dunk over Tatum after the play.

That was also part of growing trust in Kuminga to create his own offense and not simply fall into the Warriors free-flowing offense. The 6’7″ athletic phenom had a series of important buckets against the Utah Jazz on Wednesday night, playing a major role as Golden State overcame a nine-point deficit only to lose in the final ten seconds. Kuminga also had a trio of baskets in the fourth-quarter as the Warriors sought to land a knockout punch on the league-leading Celtics.

Kuminga has now solidified himself into the Warriors’ eighth-man at the very least, sitting behind the starters and the bench backcourt pairing of Jordan Poole and Donte DiVincenzo. The lack of development in James Wiseman and Moses Moody may have been a slight disappointment in the Warriors season to date, but Kuminga’s single-handedly atoning for that as he grows in front of our very eyes.