Even after Stephen Curry fell to injury and was sidelined for this Tuesday night’s game against the Pelicans, coach Steve Kerr decided to mix around Golden State’s starting lineup, leaving Jonathan Kuminga outside of initial action once again. Even so, the young star came off from the bench and impacted the game which ended in the Warriors’ favor.
The 22-year-old was replaced with Moses Moody as a starter, despite the fact that Andrew Wiggins was also not available last night. “Without Steph and Wiggs, I didn’t want to start Trayce [Jackson-Davis], Draymond [Green] and JK,” Kerr told the press after their 124-106 victory.
“I wanted a little more spacing. I knew it would be a JK game. I knew he would play a lot … this is just about combinations and getting a bit more spacing on the floor to start,” he continued to explain, as the media wanted to understand why he chose some players over others. “All it is, is shuffling the lineup to try to get the right five-man grouping out there.”
Kuminga block, Kuminga SLICK lob toss 💪👌
Loud in the Bay on TNT 🔊 pic.twitter.com/1tq5jDLJ8D
— NBA (@NBA) October 30, 2024
The Golden State coach even told those present in the postgame interview, that he had expressed this to Kuminga before the start of the game. Jonathan later confirmed this by revealing that he received a text from Kerr about his decision, but they never got the chance to talk extensively about it.
“It wasn’t my decision. I got a text, this is how it’s going to go, this is who it’s going to be, and I went with it,” said the Congo native. “What am I supposed to do … ask why am I not starting? This is the decision of the coach, and we will follow what he’s going to do.”
Despite impacting the game with 17 points (on 6-of-13 shooting) to his name, he believes in his coach’s decisions. “At the end of the day, I’m still a professional. I’m going to do what I’ve got to do,” said JK, who also collaborated with 3 assists, 2 steals and 1 block in a season-high 28 minutes.
The young star, who hasn’t extended his rookie contract in San Francisco, has played in all of the Warriors’ four games this campaign. However, he’s been limited to playing averages of 21.8 minutes per contest.
The Warriors coach praised Kuminga after the game, saying he is the team’s “most athletic player” and can impact more coming off the bench
“I thought JK was great,” Steve Kerr said after beating New Orleans. “We’re going to need him, obviously. He is our most athletic player. He’s got great size. There are games like tonight where we have to have him and others where maybe things aren’t going his way. That’s OK.”
Even though the team combined with many players throughout the match, Kuminga felt he was playing more as a small forward, rather than his usual role as power forward. “I did the same thing [that I did] in game two, game three, I’m still attacking the rim and other things but tonight they went in, so it looked good,” he said.
Golden State started out the match with Buddy Hield, Draymond Green, Moses Moody, Brandin Podziemski and Trayce Jackson-Davis, and included JK in their 10-man rotation.
The Warriors coach explained time and time again, that they possess more depth in today’s roster than in other seasons. “This is about winning,” Kerr said. “This is a deep team. The thing I’ve asked all of these guys to do is just commit. And every game is going to be different.”
