The whirlwind of possibilities surrounding Jonathan Kuminga's future with the Warriors
Experience is everything in life and also in professional sports. Valuable lessons can be learned through trials, tribulations, failures, and successes. Young adults can absorb helpful information from their many experiences in their life and apply their findings to their future decision-making process. The same goes for young professional athletes.
Throughout the last couple of years, there has been a conversation regarding the two-timeline theory within the Golden State Warriors.
One timeline consisted of the championship core of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Andrew Wiggins, Andre Iguodala, and Kevon Looney. The other timeline, the younger timeline, consisted of recent young players drafted, like James Wiseman, Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody, and Jordan Poole.
The notion of the theory was that the organization wanted to continue to win championships and simultaneously develop for the future. The theory started well, winning a championship two seasons ago. It would quickly fail however as last season Golden State finally did away with their prized lottery pick in Wiseman who ended up in Detroit. To further lay the two timeline theory to rest the team didn’t get more production from the young guns like Poole and Kuminga during the playoffs that ended abruptly in the Western Conference semifinals.
During one of the most critical offseasons in franchise history, there has been a lot of speculation on how they would move forward with the championship core and the young players. According to ESPN's Jonathan Givony, the Warriors are considering trading Jonathan Kuminga for a high draft pick.
With the draft less than a week away, the Warriors have a lot of decisions to make that will ultimately impact the immediate future of the franchise, naming a new general manager, deciding on what to do with the 19th overall pick, Green's contract situation, but one of the most critical decisions they must figure out before next season is what to do Jonathan Kuminga.
The number seven overall draft pick in the 2021 NBA Draft had an erratic past season due to many aspects, injury, inexperience, lack of hustle, and lack of effort on the court. Still, the most significant reason for his unpredictable performance was his role or lack thereof.
It's difficult for a young player in any professional sport to thrive and develop properly with a daily inconsistent role. The twenty-year-old from the Congo needs a consistent and sustained role on the Warriors if he wants more playing time.
"I'm focusing more on rebounding. That's the buggiest thing. I have to watch all the clips and learn how to rebound more. Hopefully, I can come back and start rebounding like Loon,"
Kuminga said in his exit interview on his mentality heading into the offseason.
He needs to work on rebounding, playing better defense, making smarter decisions on the court, taking pressure off the older core by finishing plays, and by doing so, he will become a key player on a championship contender.
The ideal player and role the Warriors need Kumiga to emulate is a member of the most recently crowned NBA champions, the Denver Nuggets. Yup, it’s the Bay Area’s own Aaron Gordon.
Both have the same body and skill type, uber-athletic two-way wing players, who can play lockdown defense, hit an occasional corner three-point shot, and finish plays in traffic and at the rim with force.
If Kuminga can render his game after Gordon, rebounding at a higher and more effective rate, and make perimeter defense a priority heading into next season, Golden State would have a glaring issue resolved and potentially their next great young homegrown player.
One key factor in all of this though; he’ll need playing time, and lots of it. * eyeballs slowly turn toward Steve Kerr’s direction *
(Photo credit: Thearon W. Henderson / Getty)