Jonathan Kuminga would have thought his role and opportunity would spike significantly following his departure from the Golden State Warriors, but the young forward's ongoing injury concern is leaving him with an all too familiar problem.
Kuminga has played just four games with the Atlanta Hawks since last month's bombshell trade, and in his absence head coach Quin Synder has found a lineup that could keep the 23-year-old's role limited upon his return.
Jonathan Kuminga's role with the Hawks could remain limited
The former seventh overall pick always had a problem earning consistent and big minutes under Steve Kerr as the Warriors chased success built around their veteran stars. Now, the Hawks are finding success in spite of Kuminga's injury concern, having won nine-straight games that has them on the door of a potential top six seed in the Eastern Conference.
With Kuminga's arrival coinciding with Zaccharie Risascher's removal from the starting lineup, there was a brief avenue of opportunity for the former Warrior to become the consistent starter he failed to become in the Bay.
But after making his first start with the Hawks in just his second game, the current knee concern looks to have shut the door on any such possibility for the moment. Atlanta have found a new starting lineup that's currently dominating their opponents, as Jake Fischer of The Stein Line outlined on Saturday.
While true that Jalen Johnson, Dyson Daniels, Nickeil-Alexander Walker, Onyeka Okongwu and McCollum have only logged 179 minutes together as a starting fivesome, they have outscored the opposition by 26.8 points per 100 possessions in their time together, which tops even the best lineups fielded by Oklahoma City and San Antonio," Fischer wrote.
That net rating improved to 27.2 after Saturday's blowout 122-99 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks, meaning Snyder isn't about to go away from it anytime soon even if Kuminga returns and can build some momentum.
Jonathan Kuminga continues to be impacted by knee injury
Kuminga is only questionable to return against the Orlando Magic on Monday, having only played once in the past five games as he continues to deal with the left knee injury sustained in his final game with Golden State on January 22.
The enigmatic forward was explosive in his first three games with the Hawks, but played less than 20 minutes and scored only two points in his last outing against the Washington Wizards last Thursday.
We'll see what happens with the Hawks roster in the offseason where Kuminga has a team option on his contract, but it doesn't look like he'll be given a solidified starting role before the end of this campaign.