Getty Jonathan Kuminga poses for a photograph at the Golden State Warriors media day.
Before he became a teammate of Steph Curry on the Golden State Warriors, Jonathan Kuminga had a unique appreciation for the future Hall of Famer’s famous shot.
The team’s top rookie opened up about his history with the two-time NBA MVP, sharing the unique connection he had to Curry in his youth. Kuminga is just weeks away from taking the court with Curry for the first time, joining the Warriors in a season with some high expectations.
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Kuminga Playing as Curry
Speaking to reporters on the team’s media day, Kuminga spoke about his amazement playing alongside Curry since he grew up playing as the Warriors guard on the NBA 2K video game series. Kuminga said he liked to be Curry in the game since he was almost automatic when it came to shooting.
“I used to use Steph in 2K. He doesn’t miss in 2K at all,” Kuminga said, via Connor Letourneau of the San Francisco Chornicle. “It’s crazy that I’m on the same team as Steph.”
Kuminga, who turns 19 on October 6, was 7 when Curry first came into the league and 13 when the Splash Brother won his first NBA title with Golden State. That put him in prime video game age when the Warriors were at their peak, and Curry was shooting the lights out while earning a unanimous MVP title.
Jonathan Kuminga says it’s crazy that he’s on the same team as Steph Curry now because “I used to use Steph in 2K.”
Kuminga’s assessment of Curry’s video game counterpart is historically accurate. The designers of the NBA 2K series have commented in the past about the effect Curry has had on the game, and the difficulties in portraying him accurately. Mike Wang, gameplay designer for the NBA 2K series, told Forbes that the team literally had to re-write the rules to account for his otherworldly shooting.
“To be completely honest, we are still looking for ways to better translate his game into NBA 2K,” says Wang. “He’s a ‘rule breaker’ when it comes to jump shooting … he becomes a problem in the video game world where we’ve been trying to train our gamers [to know] that certain types of shots should be rewarded versus others.”
New Teammates Connecting
In the months since the Warriors used the No. 7 overall pick to snag Kuminga, he and Curry have been able to connect a bit on the court. This summer, a handful of Warriors veterans trekked to Las Vegas to see Kuminga and fellow lottery pick Moses Moody competing in Summer League, and Curry was reportedly quite impressed with what he saw.
“He seems special.”
@MarcJSpears thinks Jonathan Kuminga will be an All-Star player “in time” (via @kendra__andrews)
Warriors general manager Bob Myers said Kuminga was able to win some praise from Curry, which is not easy to do.
“We were watching him last night with Steph and Draymond,” Myers said Thursday on 95.7 The Game’s “Damon, Ratto & Kolsky.” “For me, in the position I’m in, it’s almost like watching your kids. … I almost care more what a player might say about him and think about him, because they don’t carry that bias.
“But talking to Curry and Draymond, Steph kind of elbowed me and said, ‘This kid’s pretty good.’ And these guys don’t compliment easily. They’ve seen a lot.”
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Warriors Rookie Reveals His Childhood Connection to Steph Curry