The Golden State Warriors aren't placed within the top tier of championship contenders entering next season. Why? Because in today's modern NBA, the need for multiple offensive stars has become more and more apparent.
The Warriors don't have that...at least not completely. They missed out on a trade for All-Star forwards Paul George and Lauri Markkanen this offseason, with attention now turned to which player could step up to fill the void alongside Stephen Curry.
Whether Golden State can find a bonafide second scorer remains one of their biggest questions entering training camp, as Dalton Johnson of NBC Sports outlined at the start of the month. Fortunately for the franchise, they don't have to look very far to find their answer.
Jonathan Kuminga already proved himself a capable second scorer for the Golden State Warriors late last season
The Warriors already unveiled Curry's new partner in crime late last season, with Jonathan Kuminga taking giant leaps (both literally and figuratively) into becoming the team's second go-to scorer.
Over a nearly two-month span from January 27 to March 26, Kuminga started all 29 games and averaged 19.1 points on 52.7% shooting from the field while getting to the free-throw line 4.6 times per game -- no other Golden State player averaged more than 3.0. The 21-year-old's 27.2% usage rate in March was a career-high, and more importantly the team had a healthy 18-11 record over the 29 games.
Take into account further offseason development, and more responsibility following the departure of Klay Thompson, and it's easy to envisage Kuminga averaging over 20 points per game, if not closer to 25.
But there remains one issue -- his spot in the starting lineup isn't yet guaranteed, as much as many would like it to be. Kuminga's 29-game period was interrupted by injury, causing him to miss six games. The young forward returned to play five of the last six games, but only started two of them thanks to Draymond Green's absence.
Will Steve Kerr accomodate Kuminga's rise to stardom by giving him a starting role to start the season? That's more so the question rather than who will become the Warriors second scorer, with the former seventh overall pick already displaying the capacity to fill that role.