SAN FRANCISCO — The Warriors have been driving teams crazy with the play for a decade now.
Small-ball lineup. Steph Curry and Draymond Green in a high pick-and-roll. Two defenders swarm to the ball, so Curry flips a pocket pass to Green on the short roll. A weak-side help defender slides up to take away the paint from Green.
Only Green has seen it hundreds of times. Reading that defender like a quarterback running the sprint option, he lobs a pass to the weak-side corner cutting baseline for an alley-oop.
That finisher on the play has been Andre Iguodala. It’s been Gary Payton II. It’s been Andrew Wiggins.
In the first quarter of Golden State’s 105-100 win over Phoenix, it was Jonathan Kuminga.
Before Saturday night, Kuminga’s best two games of the season came on nights that Curry and Green sat out. Without the franchise’s two tentpoles, Kuminga could fully take the car keys. But against Phoenix, he matched his career high of 34 points and added excellent defense on Kevin Durant.
If this is the breakthrough the Warriors and Kuminga have been waiting for, it’ll be because they finally figured out how to blend his skills with the Warriors’ system instead of permitting him to be an accessory.
Everyone knows what Kuminga can do when he gets downhill. It’s no secret that he’s a terror in transition. He likes to get into his midrange bag. But the dirty work — the backdoor cuts, the off-ball screens, sprinting the floor without the ball, rebounding in traffic? That’s been the difference over the past two games.
“I’m just so impressed with JK,” Steve Kerr said postgame. “It feels like he’s turning a corner. Played so hard last night and again tonight. … He was fantastic, and this is exactly what we’re looking for.”
After Kuminga threw down the alley-oop from Green, he jogged back on defense with a big smile. He and Green high-fived. They knew the connection earned a celebration.
“We just need him to stay that aggressive,” Green said postgame. “When he’s on the court, we’re going to feature him. And it’s on him to do the rest, and he’s doing it. And he’s more than capable, and he’ll continue to get better and he’ll continue to do more.”
In his pregame press conference, Kerr said the coaches meeting revolved around how to leverage Kuminga alongside Curry and Green. It’s the essential question with the team at the moment, given the need for a reliable second scorer and Kuminga’s ability to be just that in the right environment.
He delivered against the Suns. Kerr noted his contested rebound that led to his game-sealing free throws and a play in which he gave up the ball to set a pin-down screen for Curry as growth points.
Kuminga ran through catches instead of spotting up and used inverted screen-and-rolls to attack advantageous matchups. Those are two ways the Warriors want to incorporate Kuminga’s dynamic athleticism on offense.
This is a critical time in Kuminga’s career. Last week, Kerr indirectly called out his shot selection and lack of awareness playing with Curry. Over the summer, he and the Warriors failed to make much progress toward a contract extension, making him a restricted free agent at the end of the year. The Warriors publicly elevated him into their starting lineup over Green, the franchise legend, before pulling the plug after three games.
And any 3-12 stretch would send trade buzz up and down a roster, let alone one with unique win-now circumstances like the Warriors.
Kuminga has flashed enticing moments in his fourth year, but mostly struggled through the early going. He has generally stayed level-headed through the trying circumstances.
“He’s strong,” Green said. “He don’t waver. He stays the course, he don’t complain. His mind is great.”
Against the Suns, Kuminga scored 13 of his 34 points in the fourth quarter. None were bigger than his final free throw to put the Warriors up four.
Kuminga admitted he was nervous while taking the foul shots. He’d never been in such a position, a reminder of his lack of high-level experience.
That’s part of what makes him such an enticing player. Despite not playing in college and logging far fewer minutes than his 2021 draft counterparts in his first two seasons, Kuminga is capable of scoring 30-plus and getting fourth-quarter stops against Kevin Durant. Mental mistakes (like on Christmas) and lapses are inevitable, for Kuminga just turned 22, but he showed how much he has to offer already.
Showing it consistently, with a full roster, is the key. Kuminga has had stretches like this before, but he has yet to turn them into long-term breakthroughs. Kerr intends to keep his starting five intact while bringing Kuminga off the bench for starter’s minutes to try to continue the momentum.
“It just feels different,” Kerr said. “It feels like he’s figuring out how to impact winning.”
Putting the ball in Kuminga’s hands for pick-and-rolls and isolations is a good way to get him stats, but probably a bad way to win many games. Scaling back his minutes and disenfranchising him from the offense lowers the team’s ceiling and risks alienating him.
The Warriors have to find a middle ground. They did on Saturday.
