Getty Golden State Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga handles the ball during a preseason game against the Washington Wizards.
Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr didn’t have a lot of positives to talk about when evaluating his team’s loss to the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday night. And why would he? The Dubs were beaten by a whopping 45 points, committing a season-high 26 turnovers, dishing out a season-low 17 assists and making just 37.8% of their shot attempts along the way.
It was about as bad a performance as we could possibly see from the defending champions.
Nevertheless, Kerr was able to isolate at least one positive from the game, which saw the coach resting his key players. Namely, that “a whole bunch of young guys” got their chance to play.
That included former No. 7 overall pick Jonathan Kuminga, who responded to the additional run by scoring 18 points and adding three boards, two assists, two blocks and a steal in the contest. At the same time, the baller once again showed that he has a lot to work on before Kerr can consistently trust him with big minutes again.
Thankfully, Kuminga looks to have the proper mindset for that process.
Kuminga Preaches Patience After Latest Loss to Pelicans
Looking beyond his raw production, Kuminga’s box score takes a hit when one considers that he was just 6-of-20 from the floor against New Orleans. He also posted the worst plus/minus score teamwide; Golden State was outscored by a whopping 38 points when he was on the hardwood.
Kuminga wasn’t looking to dwell on what went wrong for himself and his teammates after the game, though. Rather, he wrote of gleaning what he can from the bout and using it to get better in a rare Twitter post (his first since the 2022-23 season began, actually).
“Tough one last night but it’s all part of the learning process,” Kuminga tweeted. “No one said it was going to be easy but just gotta keep learning for the best and growing.”
It was a welcome statement from a player who has been one of the biggest negative-impact players in the league this season in terms of on/off numbers.
For the year, Kuminga is averaging 5.6 points and 2.1 rebounds in 15.0 minutes per game. His counting stats aren’t the only numbers that have dipped, either — he’s shooting just 37.5% from the floor and 26.7% from three-point range. Consequently, the Dubs have been outscored by 23.1 points per 100 possessions when he has been on the court.
Dub Nation Still Has Kuminga’s Back
While the hoops blogosphere is flush with trade-machine musings sending Kuminga out of town amid his slow start, the young baller clearly still has a significant cheering section. Over on the Warriors Subreddit, a number of fans responded to news of his tweet with words of support.
“Despite all that noise during the off-season, JK’s attitude has been fantastic,” commented one fan. “He’s not playing well but he is giving a lot of effort and fighting for rebounds.”
“Love this. Out of all the kids so far I really think he should be the priority,” wrote another Redditor. “We need to give him minutes, it’s as simple as that. Maybe cut down Lamb’s and JMG, Idc who but Kuminga is legit.”
Next up for the Warriors is a Wednesday night bout with the LA Clippers. Tip-off from the Chase Center will be at 7:00 pm PT.