Minnesota Timberwolves superstar Anthony Edwards played a major role in Jonathan Kuminga's move to the franchise in free agency, with the former Golden State Warriors forward signing a two-year, $12.4 million contract this week.
It's also been confirmed that Kuminga's performance against the Timberwolves in the 2025 playoffs was a factor in the team's recruitment, not that it will surprise the Warriors who traded Kuminga to the Atlanta Hawks in February.
Anthony Edwards confirms Jonathan Kuminga factor Warriors already knew
There's no coincidence that the two teams Kuminga has now played for since departing Golden State are two he had notable performances against. His move to the Hawks in February may have had something to do with his relationship with general manager Onsi Saleh from their time together at the Warriors, but there's little doubt some within the Atlanta front office would have referred to Kuminga's performance against them in January 2024.
Arguably the best performance of Kuminga's career came in that game, having tied a Warrior record for most field-goals without a miss as he went for 25 points on a perfect 11-of-11 shooting in a 134-112 win over the Hawks.
Fast-forward to now and everyone knew that Kuminga's performance against Minnesota was a reason behind their interest in the former seventh overall pick. Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic has revealed just that on Friday, detailing conversations between Edwards and his newest teammate.
"Edwards referred back to the playoff series often in their conversations, telling Kuminga the Wolves had no answer for him on either end of the floor," Krawczynski wrote.
Buying into Jonathan Kuminga's playoff performance is risky
Kuminga averaged nearly 25 points on over 55% shooting from the floor in the last four games of that second-round series. The problem with buying into those performances is that it runs counter-intuitive to how Kuminga and the Timberwolves now view the situation.
Kuminga's agent, Aaron Turner, has revealed that Kuminga "just wants to be a part of an unselfish offense that moves the ball and gets everyone involved." However, his production in that Timberwolves series stemmed from Stephen Curry's injury and being released with the freedom of a primary offensive role. That's not going to happen now at the Timberwolves with Edwards and LaMelo Ball largely running the offense, so is it particularly worthwhile putting relevance into that playoff series?
Whether rightly or wrongly, the Timberwolves certainly have put wieight into what Kuminga did in those four games. It's a gamble to be lured into a player for that reason, but time will tell if it's the right call and if Kuminga can become a long-term part of Minnesota's future.
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