On Opening Night, Jonathan Kuminga looked awesome. He got the start and made the most of his minutes. In one fell swoop, he made the Golden State Warriors look like absolute fools and complete geniuses at the same time. But at the end of the day, Warriors fans should simply be happy he’s on the team.
In his 32:54 of action, the second-most minutes on the team behind only Jimmy Butler, Kuminga filled up the stat sheet. He put up 17 points, nine rebounds, six assists, and one steal while shooting 6-of-11 from the floor and 4-of-6 from beyond the three-point arc.
It should have caused some mixed emotions in San Francisco.
Why are the Warriors fools and geniuses?
On the one hand, the Warriors should look like fools for dragging the Kuminga situation out in the manner that they did. It was a completely ridiculous saga all summer long.
Had Golden State simply paid Kuminga what he felt as though he deserved, things could have gone much smoother. And the foolishness extends past the finances, too.
Obviously, it’s just one game, but Kuminga looked like a perfectly fine fit on Tuesday night. Perhaps if the Warriors had been giving him consistent opportunities for the past few years, they could have avoided the mess of the past few months altogether.
However, while the Warriors should be seen as fools for those reasons, they should also be applauded as geniuses for similar ones.
Though it’s a bit of a sticky way to go about things, at the end of the day, the Warriors got Kuminga on a new contract at a price that they are clearly comfortable with. And it seemingly happened on their terms. That’s a win.
They were able to retain one of their top young pieces at a reasonable price because of how willing they were to play hardball all summer long.
Now, based on how well Kuminga gelled with the rest of the Warriors on Opening Night, they may have brought back a great piece of the puzzle on a really solid contract.
Obviously, overreactions to Opening Night are inevitable. In a week’s time, Kuminga could be back to earning DNPs because the Warriors don’t like his fit again.
But in this moment, just after the Warriors’ big Opening Night win over the Los Angeles Lakers, Kuminga was great. And for that reason, the Warriors should be heckled and lauded at the same time.