Jonathan Kuminga has been a different player over the Golden State Warriors first two preseason games, with the young forward starting to show signs of the sort of player the coaching staff wants him to be on this iteration of the team.
Kuminga's realized he needs to move the ball, rebound and defend to get consistent minutes under Kerr heading into his fifth year, but there's also a problem in that it's coming at the expense of his biggest strengths.
Jonathan Kuminga has looked different over the first two games
Kuminga's been active defensively so far, recording two blocks in his 33 minutes which included one of the highlights of Wednesday's game when he met Trail Blazers wing Shaedon Sharpe at the summit for an emphatic rejection. Only Al Horford has more blocks than Kuminga over the first two preseason games, while it's clearly more than the 0.7 he averages per 36 minutes in his career.
That activity has also extended to his rebounding where Kuminga easily leads all Golden State players with 11. It's an element the coaching staff has been big on him for across his career, having averaged only 6.6 per 36 minutes through his first four years.
After a Warriors challenge, this play was ruled a clean block by Jonathan Kuminga 🚫 pic.twitter.com/I7aNLVvTTo
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) October 9, 2025
The offensive end has seen an even bigger contrast. The 23-year-old is clearly trying to get his teammates involved as much as possible, so much so that it's actually come at the expense of his overall impact.
Kuminga has six assists in his 33 minutes of court time so far. That could have easily been more if not for his teammates, with Draymond Green blowing a wide open layup against the Lakers and Stephen Curry stepping out of bounds on a wing three in the first-half against the Trail Blazers. For context, Kuminga averages 2.9 assists per 36 minutes in his career -- his rate in the last two games has been over double that.
It's actually great to see Kuminga working and delivering upon many of the elements the coaching staff wants, even if there's been five turnovers in the process. The problem is that he's not balancing the passing with actually looking for his own and being the dominant driving force that he's known for.
The former seventh overall pick has taken just eight field-goal attempts in 33 minutes, nearly half the 15.2 he averages per 36 for his career. Of those eight field-goal attempts, he's taken six threes of which he's made only two. It's bizarre to see him so passive as a scorer, even if it's more in line with what Kerr wants him to do.
This is an extremely small sample size sure, but Kuminga needs to find a greater balance between his own scoring while being in the flow of the offense. Right now he's overcompensating in a big way, which is why the Warriors are a -10 in his minutes so far despite recording back-to-back wins.