Jonathan Kuminga watched on from the bench as the Golden State Warriors blew an 18-point fourth-quarter lead to the Denver Nuggets on Thursday. Despite being in the midst of one of his better games of the season, Kuminga didn’t play at all for about the final 18 minutes, and head coach Steve Kerr was asked about it after the game.
“He was playing great,” Kerr said. “His normal time to go back in would have been around the 5-6 minute mark and (Andrew Wiggins) was playing great and we were rolling, we’re up 18, 19 whatever it was and so we just stayed with him. Then at that point, it didn’t feel like it was the right thing to do. He’d been sitting for a while, so I stayed with the group that was out there. Obviously, we couldn’t close it out.”
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Kuminga exited the game with 5:48 left in the third quarter when the Nuggets were up 85-84. At the time, he had 16 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists and had shot 5-7 from the field.
He probably didn’t think that he would not play another minute, but with the Warriors up 123-105 with 6:51 left in the fourth, Kerr decided to stick with Andrew Wiggins. It was a mistake and as he saw the lead dwindle, Kerr subbed out Wiggins with 3:51 left for Dario Saric, who had played a few minutes at the start of the fourth.
The lead had been cut down to 123-115 by then and Saric’s introduction did not stop the bleeding, as the Nuggets went on to win 130-127. Denver ended the game on a 25-4 run, and you can’t help but think Kuminga could have helped the offense a lot during that stretch.
The 21-year-old had gone 6-7 from the free-throw line and could have gotten the team some easy points by getting to the line. Even though Kuminga might have lost his rhythm a little bit, I think he’d have still been rather effective attacking the rim. Ultimately, he didn’t get a chance and saw his team drop to 16-18 on the season.
Jonathan Kuminga Was Not Surprised That He Didn’t Re-Enter The Game
There was understandably a lot of interest about what Kuminga, who is now averaging 12.8 points, 4.1 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 0.6 steals, and 0.3 blocks per game this season, had to say about not re-entering the game. When he was asked about it, though, the youngster said he was not surprised.
“It’s tricky. Since I’ve been here, we don’t have just five guys that we know that they’re supposed to be on the floor whenever it’s closing time,” Kuminga said. “It’s a little, I don’t know how to say it, it’s a little weird. I’ve been here for three years now, I’m used to it. I’m never surprised when I see a lineup change at the end of the game or even in the game. It’s a culture thing.”
It is quite sad in a way that he has gotten used to it by now and this really isn’t ideal for a youngster’s development. I can’t help but wonder how much better of a player Kuminga would have been today if he had been drafted by another team.
I’m sure he’d have learned a lot from the likes of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green, but experience is the best teacher at the end of the day.
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