How a less-is-more approach earned Jonathan Kuminga trust and playing time

Jonathan Kuminga’s athleticism may have been the standout reason why the Warriors drafted him No. 7 overall in 2021, but it’s his recent dedication to the little things that have nudged the 20-year-old into a regular rotation role, and the Warriors are taking note.

Coach Steve Kerr called Kuminga’s performance in a 116-113 loss to Dallas on Tuesday the “best game” he’d ever seen the second-year forward play. Not because Kuminga was the star of the show, but because he was the silent killer doing all the dirty work that may not make the highlight reels. He was a team-high plus-21 with his first double-double of the year (14 points and 10 rebounds) on a night when, for the first time, the bench unit outplayed the starters.

“Everything he did contributed to making an impact on winning,” Kerr said after the game. “His defense on Luka (Dončić) was fantastic. He was disciplined, he stayed down, he challenged shots, he had a couple of blocks, he stayed patient offensively.”

It’s the little things that earn big minutes within this Warriors team. And Kuminga’s performance in Dallas was no one-off. Beginning with the Warriors’ Black Friday win against Utah — when Kuminga didn’t shoot the ball once and finished plus-2 — he’s averaging 7 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game with a total plus-31 over three games. These are statistics emblematic of a player embracing a reduced role.

The reward is more minutes: Over the three games, Kuminga’s minutes have jumped from 13 to 20 to 26 on Tuesday.

“I’ll try my best even if I’m not scoring,” Kuminga told reporters in Dallas. “That’s not going to stop me from coming in the game and trying to have an impact on whatever is really needed in the moment.”

But Kuminga struggled to embrace that role early on this season, leaving him outside the rotation and benched three times over the Warriors’ first 17 games. Acclimating to the complex, movement-based style of play is a challenge in and of itself for any Golden State newcomer. But it’s an even steeper learning curve and change of pace for a lottery pick with the potential, on paper, to be a star.

On a team not chasing titles, Kuminga would have a long leash to explore his boundaries. The margin for error to try to reach his high ceiling would be much greater for most teams who hold lottery picks — the teams hoping for a savior.

“The role part is difficult because they have big dreams,” assistant coach Ron Adams said. “And they have to understand that on a successful team, you have to learn how to fit in.

“You come into the league, you’re a high draft pick, and people are saying ‘This guy is great, he’s going to be great for us,’ but what is left out is the process. What it’s going to take for a person to actually understand the pro game.”

The Warriors don’t need a savior. In Kuminga, they need a savvy one-on-one defender, a cutter, a guy to make the extra pass. Kuminga still needs to prove he can do those little things consistently, but he’s earning trust by checking key boxes. Every little winning play is “money in the bank,” as Adams puts it.

“Putting money in the bank, you build confidence in your coach,” he said. “By putting money in the bank, you’re doing the right things. Understanding that you’re part of the game and as you grow you become a bigger part of the game.”

Sticking it to the Minnesota Timberwolves’ “twin towers,” Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns, is certainly bankable.

One of Kuminga’s six rebounds against Minnesota Sunday afternoon came on a strong box-out of Gobert after defending guard D’Angelo Russell and quickly rotating under the basket to Gobert on Russell’s missed shot attempt.

In another sequence against Minnesota, Kuminga forced Anthony Edwards into a contested long 2-pointer and got the rebound on his miss. On the other end, he and Kevon Looney set a double drag screen and Jordan Poole fed the ball to Looney on the short roll. The defense, preoccupied with Steph Curry off the ball, stepped up to Looney in the paint, leaving Kuminga open to cut to the basket for an easy layup off a feed from Looney.

Also bankable: Kuminga’s one-on-one defense against Dončić, the league’s leading scorer. Though Dončić scored 41 points, Kuminga’s pestering made a clear impact.

With less than a minute in the third quarter and the Warriors closing in on Dallas’ lead, Kuminga forced Dončić into a travel by closing in on an anticipated step-back 3-pointer. In the first half, Kuminga held strong on a Dončić post-up, forcing him into a miss. Kuminga didn’t miss a beat after that stop, sprinting up the floor, as Curry found him in open space for an easy dunk.

Most bankable, Adams says, is Kuminga playing with urgency. All too often earlier this year, Kuminga would miss rotations or commit preventable fouls, caught with his hands in the proverbial cookie jar or easing his way into the game flow. Adams recalls Gary Payton II last season forcing his way into the bench rotation by making game-changing plays, sometimes within his first minute on the court.

“When you come into a game as a bench player, you have to go right now,” Adams said. “You don’t have time to take a minute to warm up.”

Can Kuminga keep faith in a less-is-more approach? It’ll be tough, but he’s on the right track. And a Warriors team desperate for more production off the bench needs him to stay focused.

“I think he’s beginning to see it and it’s a process,” Adams said. “I feel really good about where he is after these last couple games.”