SAN FRANCISCO – In each jersey quantity and accountability, Jonathan Kuminga performed the a part of No. 1 possibility at Crypto.com Enviornment on Sunday night time.
It was not a lot a Hollywood audition because it was a brief function hoisted upon a prepared recipient. The 23-year-old ahead was the one with the ball in his fingers, dictating actions, making choices.
With Steph Curry, Jimmy Butler and Al Horford all sitting out of the Warriors’ preseason sport towards the Lakers, Golden State wanted a dynamic scorer, and Kuminga obliged.
Kuminga scored 13 factors on 5 of 8 capturing, overwhelming defenders on the rim along with his athleticism, and peppering in a slick catch-and-shoot jumper from the brief nook for 3 factors.
After a summer-long saga that noticed his agent Aaron Turner embark on a media tour espousing the person abilities of a consumer compelled to play throughout the Warriors’ system, Sunday’s sport supplied Kuminga his first alternative of the preseason to be The Man.
As with Kuminga’s complete profession, the great and the adverse have been equally represented, and maybe nothing displayed the duality of Jonathan Kuminga fairly like a half-minute sequence within the second quarter.
Kuminga was splayed out on the ground after Lakers reserve Jake LaRavia had buckled him with a hesitation transfer halfway by way of the quarter.
There have been quite a lot of “oohs” and “ahhs” that reverberated from the Lakers crowd, and loads of snickers on Sunday night time.
Twenty seconds later, no one was laughing.
A streaking Kuminga had obtained a go from Draymond Inexperienced at midcourt, taken two dribbles to measurement up LaRavia, and made his transfer.
Kuminga elevated, switched the ball from his proper to his left hand, and threw down a poster dunk.
Teammates Curry and Horford, watching in road garments from the bench, regarded on in equal elements disbelief and amazement. The workforce’s youngest participant adopted swimsuit.
“It kind of caught me off guard,” Will Richard, 22, mentioned. “But I knew he had that in his bag.”
These 30 seconds have been the right encapsulation of Kuminga’s night time.
He additionally had six assists – his pass-first mentality apparently a development – and was a prepared distributor whereas working within the mid-post.
“He’s done that in scrimmages, and he’s seen the floor well,” Kerr mentioned. “He’s been making some really nice reads, and that’s a part of his game that he’s improved, for sure.”
However there have been additionally 5 turnovers in simply 22 minutes, generally attempting to perform a little an excessive amount of in a crowd. Brandin Podziemski, who performed a lead guard function Sunday, made positive to emphasise that not all of these giveaways have been Kuminga’s fault.
“We did a poor job of giving JK space when he had it in the post, whether it was off an iso or a set play,” Podziemski mentioned.
His shot choice? Nonetheless not excellent, with probably the most baffling try being a pull-up 3-pointer that he had no enterprise taking, however he made greater than he missed. And the variety of rebounds? Zero.
It contained echoes of his sequence towards Minnesota, when Kuminga averaged 24.3 factors per sport towards one of many league’s prime defenses after Curry exited the sequence following Recreation 1.
With Kerr adamant that the veterans will probably solely play between 60 and 70 video games, Kuminga can have extra probabilities to play the function of prime possibility this season, even along with his future nonetheless murky contemplating he will be traded after Jan. 15.
However ought to – or maybe, when – he receives these alternatives, Sunday night time confirmed that the Warriors can have loads to like and a few to detest when he’s thrust into the highlight.
