Fifth-year forward Jonathan Kuminga warmed the bench for a second consecutive game on Friday as the Golden State Warriors suffered a 127-120 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Warriors head coach Steve Kerr explained why he hit Kuminga with a second consecutive healthy DNP.
“Just right now, it’s where things are,” Kerr said on the Kuminga DNP, via Marc Grandi of the “95.7 The Game” podcast.
“You saw Gui [Santos] come in there for, you know, six minutes and he lit up the crowd with his energy and the ball movement. That was maybe the best stretch of the game for our offense… It’s just where it is right now, but it can change very quickly.”
Kuminga Shines Against T’Wolves
The Kuminga DNP was all the more perplexing since the 23-year-old forward put up gawdy numbers when the Warriors faced the Timberwolves in last season’s Western Conference semifinals series.
In the five-game series — that saw Stephen Curry go down with an injury in Game 1 — Kuminga led all Warriors with 104 points while shooting 42% from three. During the series, he earned praise from Jimmy Butler III for attacking the rim against four-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert and for carrying a heavy offensive workload for Golden State in Curry’s absence.
Given his history of playing well against the Timberwolves, many expected Kerr to give Kuminga a shot on Friday, when Draymond Green sat out for personal reasons.
Steve Kerr Justifies Kuminga DNP
In previous years, Kerr has claimed that Kuminga is not a good fit for the Warriors’ pace-and-space offense, which doesn’t rely much on pick-and-rolls and ISO actions. That statement became all the more prudent when the Warriors traded for Jimmy Butler on a team that already has another non-shooter in Draymond Green.
However, with Green missing Friday’s game, the stage was set Kuminga to get a look. Instead, Kerr started Buddy Hield for his shooting, kept the red-hot Pat Spencer in the starting unit and gave 20+ minutes to Moses Moody, Brandin Podziemski and De’Anthony Melton off the bench, rendering Kuminga a bench-warmer.
Despite all those moves, the Warriors shot a pathetic 33% from three (15-of-46), with a returning Stephen Curry alone making six of those long-range shots.
Going forward, Kuminga will face an even stiffer challenge to crack the rotation, Kerr warned. The Warriors head coach confirmed that Melton would remain in closing units for his perimeter defense and shooting, which Kuminga doesn’t bring.
“I think Melt will be in our closing lineup quite a bit this year,” Kerr said. “He’s so good defensively, can play either guard spot, and is a great decision maker. We went with Moses and Melt tonight, but it could be very different next game. We just have to ride the hot hand and do whatever it takes to win.”
The Warriors (13-13) fell back to .500 on Friday after two impressive road wins against the Chicago Bulls and Cleveland Cavaliers earlier this week. They will next face the Portland Trail Blazers on the road Sunday. Is another Kuminga DNP on the cards?
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