{"id":325896,"date":"2025-10-07T03:55:24","date_gmt":"2025-10-07T03:55:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/325896\/"},"modified":"2025-10-07T03:55:24","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T03:55:24","slug":"michael-malone-makes-a-prediction-about-jonathan-kuminga-on-the-golden-state-warriors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/325896\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Malone makes a prediction about Jonathan Kuminga on the Golden State Warriors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Jonathan Kuminga saga ended with him returning to the Golden State Warriors on a two-year deal.<\/p>\n

Following his new deal, Jonathan Kuminga<\/a> is seemingly trying to start a new chapter in his career with the Golden State Warriors<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After all, Kuminga has changed his jersey number<\/a> ahead of the 2025-26 NBA season. But even with a new number and deal, Kuminga\u2019s future with the Warriors<\/a> isn\u2019t expected to be smooth.<\/p>\n

However, former Denver Nuggets<\/a> head coach Michael Malone<\/a> believes there\u2019s a way to make things better for Kuminga.<\/p>\n

\"HeadPhoto by Thearon W. Henderson\/Getty ImagesMichael Malone urges Steve Kerr to improve communication with Jonathan Kuminga<\/p>\n

Even with Kuminga returning to the team, he won\u2019t have a solid season without being on the same page with head coach Steve Kerr<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After all, it was coach Kerr\u2019s decision to bench him that led to a turbulent summer for Kuminga and the Warriors. Coming to Malone\u2019s point, he wants Kerr to establish better communication with the young star.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt comes down to communication. Steve\u2019s come out and said it, that communication is key. Him and Kuminga have a relationship, but they have to sit down in the room,\u201d Malone said on NBA Countdown.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cAnd right now it\u2019s a battle between Steve Kerr saying, \u2018This is what we want\u2019, and then Kuminga is saying, \u2018Well, this is what I want\u2019, and that they have to find a way to marry that and merge that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additionally, Malone reminded Kerr about Kuminga\u2019s talent by recalling his performance against the Minnesota Timberwolves<\/a> during the 2025 NBA Playoffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou look at what Jonathan Kuminga did in games 2,3,4, and 5 in that series against Minnesota, when Steph Curry got hurt, Kuminga became a focal point and showed out. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey didn\u2019t win any of those games. But did he find a way to step up and be a part of this team,\u201d Malone stated.<\/p>\n

Michael Malone makes a Michael Porter Jr. and Jonathan Kuminga comparison<\/p>\n

Putting aside the chaotic contract negotiation, fans cannot deny Kuminga\u2019s skill on the hardwood. As Malone mentioned earlier, JK did step up vs. the Timberwolves during the 2025 postseason.<\/p>\n

Adding more to his point, Malone compared Kuminga\u2019s current situation to that of Michael Porter Jr.<\/a> during his early days with the Nuggets.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost importantly, Steve said it, if he defends, he rebounds, and he runs, he\u2019s going to play. If he does those things he\u2019s gonna have a greater chance to go out there and help impact,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel as you mentioned Michael Porter, I think Kuminga closes a lot of games, because he\u2019s too young, too talented, and too athletic not to,\u201d Malone concluded.<\/p>\n

In simple terms, Malone predicted that Kuminga will become a top-notch closer for the Warriors during the course of the season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Jonathan Kuminga saga ended with him returning to the Golden State Warriors on a two-year deal. Following…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":325897,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3781],"tags":[7,301,187,3943,164,867,4231,6,302,863,574],"class_list":{"0":"post-325896","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-denver-nuggets","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-denver","10":"tag-denver-nuggets","11":"tag-denvernuggets","12":"tag-golden-state-warriors","13":"tag-jonathan-kuminga","14":"tag-michael-malone","15":"tag-nba","16":"tag-nuggets","17":"tag-steve-kerr","18":"tag-western-conference"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115330870411515634","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=325896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325896\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/325897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=325896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=325896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}