For years, all we heard about was how unhappy Jonathan Kuminga was on the Golden State Warriors. The two sides didn’t get along well, and it mostly stemmed from the fact that Kuminga felt like he deserved more opportunities to be himself, especially on offense. The friction got to be too much. But now that he’s fully bought in with the Minnesota Timberwolves, things are going very well.
The Kuminga era – though working with a small sample size – has been going great so far for both parties involved. Kuminga should be happy with how much the team believes in him. The Timberwolves should be thrilled with his performance so far. Even with Anthony Edwards out for a while, Kuminga has still just been playing his role perfectly. Not doing too much.
Maybe there’s a world in which Kuminga could have finally bought in with the Warriors, but it felt like the time for that was over.
This version of Jonathan Kuminga was never going to happen on the Warriors
Kuminga could have run into a repeat problem with the Timberwolves. But the problem he ran into with the Warriors was a pretty unique one. And it’s not going to happen in Minnesota.
When the Warriors drafted Kuminga, it felt like he felt like he deserved an immediate offensive role. But Golden State was trying to win now, so that wasn’t really happening in the way Kuminga envisioned.
So, for years, he and the team battled back and forth. More minutes. More of an offensive role. More trust. But those things are earned, and once the relationship became as strained as it was, it was never going to happen.
It was a two-way street. The Warriors could have invested in youth more when they drafted two guys in the lottery. Kuminga could have bought in more.
Now, that’s exactly what’s happening with the Timberwolves. He went to a team that wanted him. Wanted him to come to town and play a big-time role for them in the starting lineup.
Getting that immediate trust is evidently all that Kuminga needed to fully buy in. Now, he’s playing his role perfectly. He’s not doing too much, even with Edwards sidelined.
Kuminga has been impacting winning at the highest level. He’s reaching peaks that were never going to be possible in Golden State after the relationship deteriorated Athe way it did.
That part of his career is over, and now, the Wolves get to enjoy just how great this part of his career is already beginning to look.
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