Jonathan Kuminga mostly played bystander during the Golden State Warriors' championship run, barely getting off the bench in the last two rounds of the playoffs.
His surprise insertion as a starter against the Memphis Grizzlies in the second round proved short-lived, too. Kuminga didn't play in the Warriors' hard-earned close-out victory over their budding rivals despite starting the previous three games of the Western Conference Semifinals, even dropping 18 points in Golden State's blowout win in Game 3.
Needless to say, much more will be asked of Kuminga in 2022-23, and not just because the reigning champions lost Gary Payton II and Otto Porter Jr. in free agency. He was always going to be due more playing time this season in wake of his promising yet uneven rookie campaign, hopefully starting to bridge the gap between the Warriors' aging stars and talented young core.
Don't take the inevitability of his expanded role as evidence of Kuminga feeling mounting pressure, though. The 19-year-old doesn't even need Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson to explain just how arduous it will be for Golden State to defend its title.
“The vets don't really gotta tell me. I've been through it. I was in the process. I helped throughout the season. I was there. I know what it takes,” Kuminga said of winning another championship on the Dubs Talk podcast with NBC Sports Bay Area's Dalton Johnson. “We're working towards it every single day, trying to get better every day. And just being at the parade just makes you want to be a champion every single year, but it's not that easy to do it.”
Kuminga's sense of confidence passes muster.
It's not like the Warriors, by far the most successful franchise of the NBA's current era, weren't hunted last season. Golden State always takes every team's best shot.
Kuminga has real experience preparing for and playing through increased intensity and strategic minutiae of the postseason, too. He played extended minutes in four games against the Grizzlies, the Warriors' toughest playoff out despite Ja Morant's injury, and spent ample time checking Memphis' electric All-NBA floor general—albeit to varying degrees of success—early in the series.
Kuminga really does already know the taste of playoff basketball. He's poised to take a much bigger bite of it next spring, though, when he'll doubt benefit from advice and tutelage afforded him by Curry, Green and Thompson—one of the most accomplished Big Threes in league history.
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