Jonathan Kuminga knows he could have gone anywhere. He could have spent his rookie year dominating the basketball in Orlando or putting up stats in Oklahoma City. Instead, he fell to the Warriors at No. 7 in the 2021 NBA Draft, and finds himself surrounded by champions and future Hall of Famers who have helped him grow.
"It really helps me," Kuminga said Friday during his All-Star Weekend media availability when asked how being on the Warriors has impacted his development. "I have at least four Hall of Fame players on my team, so just watching those guys every single day, the way they work, the way they do things, the way they carry themselves on and off the court, that's a lot of things that a lot of rookies don't get. So just me being around them is helping me a lot."
Kuminga is thankful to have landed on the Warriors. While other top picks are toiling away on franchises trying to climb out of NBA irrelevancy, the 19-year-old wing has been allowed to develop at his own pace and now has carved out a role on a team with NBA title dreams.
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"Everybody has their own path, and I feel like that's my path, and it's going well," Kuminga said when asked if he preferred his role on the Warriors to being a focal point as a rookie. "I feel like Cade [Cunningham] has his own path, and he is having success, and it's going pretty well. It doesn't really matter where you end up, it's just how you are getting better every day."
The Warriors' initial selection of Kuminga raised eyebrows. Many believed Kuminga was too raw of a prospect to contribute to a Warriors team trying to maximize the remaining prime of its championship core.
But what the Warriors saw in Kuminga was an ultra-athletic wing with tools you can't teach. While other top rookies were handed starting roles, the Warriors made Kuminga earn his minutes. He showed flashes of his great potential early on but wanted to see more consistency and effort out of him in practice and games to earn a rotation spot.
After logging impressive minutes against the Milwaukee Bucks and scoring 25 points against the Chicago Bulls in mid-January, head coach Steve Kerr compared Kuminga's role on this Warriors team to Shawn Marion's on the Phoenix Suns. The Warriors wanted Kuminga, with his supreme physical gifts, to make the most of his athleticism and physicality.
Golden State Warriors
“The only thing we’ve been emphasizing is running the floor hard,” Kerr said after the win vs. the Bulls. “Using his gifts, both ways. Every time, sprint the floor hard. When I was in Phoenix as a GM, we had Shawn Marion. One of the best athletes in the league. Every night, he’d just run the floor hard. He wasn’t the greatest 3-point shooter, wasn’t the greatest passer, wasn’t the greatest ballhandler. But he was an All-Star because he just played hard. By running the floor, all kinds of good stuff would happen.
“That’s the first step for JK. To understand his gifts are so unique athletically. They jump out even in an NBA game. Taking advantage of those gifts now allows him to build a foundation, then from there, his shooting will improve, understanding of the game will improve, overall skill level will improve. But what I liked about the last two nights is it’s the hardest I’ve seen him run the floor on consecutive nights.”
Kuminga's chance to seize a consistent role on the Warriors arrived when Draymond Green went down with a calf injury caused by a disc issue in his lower back.
The 19-year-old has made the most of his opportunity. Over his last 10 games, Kuminga is averaging 12.7 points and 4.1 rebounds while shooting 55.6 percent from the field.
Kuminga has been tasked with guarding the likes of Nikola Jokic and LeBron James and acquitted himself admirably with the expected rookie moments mixed in.
Kerr admitted after the Warriors' win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Feb. 12 that he wanted Kuminga to guard James so that the rookie would have the experience to fall back on if asked to do so in the playoffs.
"Let's put him on LeBron now, because he's gonna have to guard LeBron and plenty of other guys in the playoffs who are really, really tough jobs, tough covers," Kerr said of having Kuminga guard James. "We're just trying to get him all the experience we can right now. He's handling it beyond anything I could have expected, even a couple weeks ago.
"His rise this last month has just been brilliant."
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The Warriors entered the season knowing that whatever they could get from Kuminga this season would be a bonus. Kuminga's growth has given the Warriors another weapon in their arsenal for when the postseason arrives.
"It's a lot of learning," Kuminga said of his first NBA season after the Bulls game. "I feel like I am getting better. It's a good thing that I am going back out there and getting more comfortable. Getting the minutes that I get and help the team win."
He has done that and more over the last month.
Kuminga will play in the Rising Stars Game on Friday at NBA All-Star Weekend. It's a fitting honor for a player who has grown from theoretical future star to key piece in a title chase in just a few short months.
And Kuminga's rise is just beginning.