![\"Jonathan](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GettyImages-2262892767-e1772016349562.jpg\")
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Jonathan Kuminga #0 of the Atlanta Hawks reacts with Dyson Daniels #5 during the third quarter against the Washington Wizards at State Farm Arena on February 24, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. <\/p>\n
Fifth-year forward Jonathan Kuminga<\/a> played like a man possessed in his Atlanta Hawks<\/a> debut on Tuesday, finishing with a season-high 27 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals off the bench. After the game, Kuminga was asked whether he was trying to send a message to the Golden State Warriors<\/a>, the team that drafted him No. 7 overall in 2021 but never really believed in his talents.<\/p>\n \u201cEverybody has an opinion,\u201d Kuminga said on whether he was trying to remind the Warriors of what they gave up, via The Associated Press.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI really don\u2019t pay attention to what anyone else is saying. We\u2019re trying to win as many games as we can here. That\u2019s my main focus.\u201d<\/p>\n Kuminga Shines in Hawks Debut<\/p>\n Kuminga was all smiles after his strong debut, which helped the Hawks (29-31) notch their second consecutive win and move closer to the Miami Heat<\/a> for the eighth seed.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know what to tell you, I\u2019m just excited to get out there and get this dub,\u201d Kuminga said during his walk back to the tunnel after his team\u2019s 119-98 victory.<\/p>\n The game marked Kuminga\u2019s first taste of NBA<\/a> action since the Jan. 23 loss to the Dallas Mavericks<\/a>, when he was part of the Warriors. Incidentally, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr had recalled him to the rotation after DNP\u2019ing the Congolese forward for more than a month. However, Kuminga played just two games before sustaining a bone bruise in his knee<\/a>, leading to his move to the Hawks before the NBA trade deadline.<\/p>\n Will Warriors Regret Kuminga Trade?<\/p>\n Kuminga has seemingly adjusted quickly to life in Atlanta.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s basketball at the end of the day. Trying to be a student of the game as a much as I can,\u201d Kuminga said of adjustment to Atlanta, via the San Francisco Chronicle.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cLearning from other players here. \u2026 Just asking them questions because they\u2019ve been playing here for a minute, so they know pretty much everything.\u201d<\/p>\n Kuminga revealed that he had closely followed the Hawks long before the trade and was aware of Quin Snyder\u2019s plays and his focus on pushing the pace in transition.<\/p>\n \u201cI watch a lot of games and I think that\u2019s pretty much one of the things they\u2019ve been preaching about in practice \u2014 playing transition, turning people over, playing as a hard as you can,\u201d Kuminga said. \u201cI feel like just watching them every day, I think it\u2019s a culture the way the play here. I think I\u2019ve just been watching them for a minute now.\u201d<\/p>\n Kuminga\u2019s Hawks debut coincided with the Warriors (30-28) suffering a 113-109 loss to the lowly New Orleans Pelicans<\/a> (17-42) on Tuesday. If Kuminga turns into a star in Atlanta, the Warriors may have some regrets about how they treated the 23-year-old.<\/p>\n His ex-Warriors teammates, though, are rooting for him to succeed<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cGo be great,\u201d Curry told Kuminga through IG after the trade.<\/p>\n Draymond Green felt that the two-man combo of Jalen Johnson<\/a> and Kuminga could prove to be handful in Snyder\u2019s system.<\/p>\n \u201cHe can go become a cornerstone of that franchise with\u00a0Jalen Johnson, those 2 guys running downhill at you in transition, good luck,\u201d Green said on his podcast.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tSai Mohan<\/a> covers the NBA for Heavy.com. Based in Portugal, Sai is a seasoned sports writer with nearly two decades of publishing experience, including bylines at Yardbarker, FanSided’s Hoops Habit, International Business Times, Hindustan Times and more. More about Sai Mohan<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Warriors\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Jonathan Kuminga #0 of the Atlanta Hawks reacts with Dyson Daniels #5 during the third quarter against…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":623914,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3786],"tags":[7,479,164,4025,4024,6,255],"class_list":{"0":"post-623913","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golden-state-warriors","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-golden-state","10":"tag-golden-state-warriors","11":"tag-goldenstate","12":"tag-goldenstatewarriors","13":"tag-nba","14":"tag-warriors"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116131286180995446","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623913","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=623913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623913\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/623914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=623913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=623913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=623913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}