Jonathan Kuminga‘s best postseason game has impressed Minnesota Timberwolves coach Chris Finch.
Kuminga scored a playoff career-high 30 points on 11-of-18 shooting, six rebounds, three assists and two blocks.
Though his effort was not enough to grab a much-needed win for the Stephen Curry-less Golden State Warriors, he won the admiration of the opposing coach.
“He is a very gifted scorer. He reminds me a little bit of Ant,” Finch said on KFAN-FM 100.3 on Monday, referring to his star Anthony Edwards.
Edwards is only a year older than Kuminga, but the Timberwolves handed him the keys to their franchise after selecting him No. 1 in the 2020 NBA Draft. They extended Edwards to a five-year, $244.6 million max extension in 2023.
It wasn’t the case for Kuminga, whom the Warriors picked No. 7 overall in 2021.
Kuminga was in and out of a Warriors’ veteran-laden rotation. He showed flashes of brilliance and had a breakout this season until the Warriors traded for Jimmy Butler.
Now, Kuminga is fighting for his next contract as he enters restricted free agency with little to show and sporadic playing time.
Jonathan Kuminga Finally Earns Steve Kerr’s Massive Praise
Golden State coach Steve Kerr gave his flowers to Kuminga, who put on a show after a receiving a string of DNPs from the four-time champion coach.
“He was brilliant,” Kerr said of Kuminga. “JK played one of the best games of his life. It was fantastic to see, and you can see how necessary he is in this matchup, especially without Steph. We’re having a tough time getting free, and he’s obviously capable of giving us some points, getting to the rim. And I thought he was fantastic.
“I’ve said it a couple times to you guys, I’ve just been impressed with the way he’s handled things the last couple weeks, with the way he stayed ready and put in the work. It paid off tonight.”
Kuminga is averaging 24.0 points on 65.5% overall shooting and 57.1% from the 3-point line with 5.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.5 blocks in the Warriors’ last two games that Curry missed due to a Grade 1 left hamstring strain.
Despite his gaudy numbers, it didn’t lead to a victory, which gave credence to Kerr’s earlier decision to bench him. The reality is, if Curry was healthy, Kuminga wouldn’t have seen action in the last two games.
Why Kerr Was Reluctant to Play Butler-Kuminga Combo
Getty Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr shakes hands with Jonathan Kuminga.
When Kerr decided to bench Kuminga beginning in the Warriors’ regular season finale against the Los Angeles Clippers, his reason was that the 22-year-old forward couldn’t fit next to Butler.
“Every game is different and I think Jimmy’s arrival took away a lot of Jonathan’s minutes at the four,” Kerr said on 95.7 The Game’s Mark T. Willard and Dan Dibley on April 10. “There’s no doubt that as soon as Jimmy [Butler] arrived and we started winning, we leaned into the lineup combinations that enhanced Jimmy because we were winning and Jonathan was out for that whole stretch. We went like 17 and 3 or something, so we’re going to keep doing what’s been winning.
“But the lineup with Jimmy, Jonathan and Draymond [Green] doesn’t fit really well, frankly. It just doesn’t. We need more spacing. We’ve found other lineups that have clicked, and this is just part of the deal, being in the NBA, and you’ve got to adapt to whatever’s happening with the team.”
Yet that Butler-Kuminga-Green lineup nearly carried the Warriors to victory in Game 3.
In 36 minutes the trio played together across four playoff games, they had a 22.9 net rating, per NBA advanced stats. It’s just a small sample size but it shows it can work.
Jimmy Butler Insists He and Jonathan Kuminga Can Co-Exist
However, Butler contradicted his Kerr’s earlier take that he and Jonathan Kuminga can’t play together.
Butler was encouraged by what he saw from Kuminga that he’s convinced they would win Monday’s Game 4.
“It was a beautiful sight to see,” Butler said of Kuminga after the loss of Kuminga’s performance after the Warriors’ 102-97 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 3. “Like I tell everybody, me and him can thrive together.
“I know how to space the floor. I can tell him, ‘Hey, when I have the ball, you go here, and you do this.’ We talk, we listen to one another, and then he has an incredible game like [Saturday]. He did so many good things out there on the floor. I know that he’s going to be a huge part of us winning on Monday.”
Butler led the way for the Warriors with 33 points on 12-of-26 shooting, seven rebounds and seven assists.
