Lost in the shuffle of a chaotic summer was Jonathan Kuminga’s development entering the 2025-26 NBA season and what now is his fifth campaign with the Warriors.
How has the 23-year-old improved? Where does he still have room to grow?
Coach Steve Kerr answered these questions on Wednesday after Kuminga finished Golden State’s 119-109 season-opening win over the Lakers with 17 points, a team-high nine rebounds and six assists on Tuesday night in Los Angeles.
“Well, nine rebounds last night, six in Portland in his last exhibition game that he only played the first half in because of the ejection,” Kerr told KNBR’s Mark Willard and Dan Dibley. “And he’s passing the ball better than he’s passed it in four years. Six assists last night.”
Kuminga, a 6-foot-8 forward, has averaged 4.0 rebounds and 1.8 assists over 259 games in his career.
While it’s just a one-game sample size, Kerr loved what he saw from Kuminga in the Warriors’ first game of the season, specifically as he blew his averages out of the water.
Kerr, though, detailed what Kuminga can improve on.
“The thing we’re still trying to work with him on, that I think he improved in the second half, was understanding the power of Steph [Curry]; go and set a screen for him and slip to the rim,” Kerr said. “That’s the hardest thing for players to do when they get here is to understand how to play with Steph and to utilize his gravity, his force to open up other opportunities to score, whether for yourself or someone else.
“I think that’s really still the area we’re going to hammer home with JK, because there’s no doubt: if you use Steph the right way, that’s the best way for us to win.”
Maybe Kerr will have a better gauge of where Kuminga is after, say, 10 or 20 games. But for now?
Kuminga has shown improvement on the glass and as a passer, and could work on playing through Curry.
All things considered, after quite a turbulent offseason, surely Kuminga can live with that assessment through one game.
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