Jonathan Kuminga turned heads as a rookie with the Golden State Warriors, carving out a reserve rotation role during the regular season while hinting at long-term star potential that many always believed made him a steal with the seventh overall pick of the 2021 draft.
No standout individual performance or jaw-dropping personal highlight is what he'll remember most from an objectively promising yet uneven NBA debut, though. Banners hang forever and rings never lose their luster, a lesson Kuminga was lucky enough to learn as a rookie—and won't ever forget.
“The best memory from my rookie year, I would say just winning a championship, man,” he told Dalton Johnson of NBC Sports Bay Area on the latest edition of Dubs Talk. “Cause I had a lot of ups and downs. There were days things was going my way, there were days things wasn't going my way, but I went through it. At the end of the day I can actually call myself a champion, so that's the biggest memory.”
Kuminga mostly played bystander during Golden State's run to a remarkable fourth championship in eight seasons.
He was inserted as a starter for three games in the Western Conference Semifinals, Steve Kerr betting his length, athleticism and defensive versatility would pay dividends versus the upstart Memphis Grizzlies. Kuminga had his moments checking Ja Morant one-on-one and provided an explosive release valve for Golden State around the rim, but ultimately made his way back to the bench against Memphis, failing to see the floor in the Warriors' close-out Game 6 victory.
The 6'8 forward is poised to play a much bigger role for Golden State in 2022-23, and not just due to a looming organizational desire to jumpstart the development of the team's young core.
The defending champs have multiple holes in their rotation after losing Gary Payton II and Otto Porter in free agency. Multiple players will get the chance to fill them, but it goes without saying the Warriors would be best off if Kuminga separated himself from Moses Moody, Donte DiVincenzo and JaMychal Green, emerging as a game-changing sixth man who gives Golden State even more stylistic flexibility and further juices its transition attack.
That's a lot to ask from any player second-year player, let alone one who doesn't turn 20 until October. But the Warriors should nevertheless be heartened that the team-first attitude Kuminga is already espousing counts as a necessary first step to him answering it successfully.
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