Over the past couple of months, rookie wing Jonathan Kuminga has established himself as a regular contributor to the Warriors. His rise coincided with the absence of Draymond Green, as Kuminga made the most out of his increased playing time.
Kuminga still played 28 minutes in Monday night’s contest, which featured Green’s much anticipated return. Warriors coach Steve Kerr joined 95.7 The Game’s “Damon & Ratto” for his weekly appearance Tuesday to discuss what makes the athletic Kuminga so intriguing. You can listen to the full interview below, :
“What you’re seeing is why he was the seventh pick in the draft and why he has such a high ceiling,” Kerr told hosts Damon Bruce and Ray Ratto. “He barely knows what he’s doing at this stage and every night he’s so gifted, so explosive that he’s gonna practically fall in to 14 points and seven rebounds. The whole point of what’s happening now is, we’re playing him and we’re giving him every opportunity. He’s learning from every single rep that he gets.”
Kerr said that assistant coach Kenny Atkinson has taken up a big role in the 19-year-old’s development, as the two often break down his game film and practice tape. With 4:47 left in a nine-point game against the Wizards Monday, Green substituted in for Kuminga, so he’s not quite in the closing lineup yet. But after shuttling between the NBA and G League to start the year, Kuminga is firmly in Kerr’s rotation heading into the playoffs.
Over the past two months, Kuminga is averaging 22.6 minutes, 13.2 points and 4.8 rebounds while shooting 53.3 percent from the floor in 29 games. He remains one of the game’s high flyers and has guarded some of the game’s best talent over the past few weeks, including LeBron James, Nikola Jokic, Karl-Anthony Towns and Luka Doncic.
The 6-foot-7, 225-pound Kuminga is probably in a class of his own when it comes to athletes that have played for Kerr over the past eight seasons.
“When a guy that is so raw and so green can put up that he’s putting up, it shows you just the ceiling, the talent level that’s there,” Kerr said. “When you combine that with the knowledge that he’s accumulating and how that’ll play out over the past couple of years, it’s really exciting to think about how good he can become.”
