SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 10: Golden State Warriors’ Jonathan Kuminga (00) dunks towards the New York Knicks within the first quarter on the Chase Middle in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, Feb. 10, 2022. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Space Information Group)
SAN FRANCISCO — After loads of petitioning by coach Steve Kerr and his teammates, Warriors rookie Jonathan Kuminga should cancel no matter plans he had for the All-Star break: he can be Golden State’s fifth consultant in Cleveland, as a late fill-in for the Rising Stars sport.
Kuminga was named Wednesday as a substitute for Pacers rookie guard Chris Duarte for the exhibition, which takes place Friday (6 p.m., TNT) as a part of All-Star weekend, after the Warriors’ scintillating rookie was left off the record of preliminary choices. He'll be part of Steph Curry, Andrew Wiggins, Draymond Inexperienced and Juan Toscano-Anderson on the group’s chartered flight to Cleveland Thursday.
Twelve rookies, together with 12 second-year gamers and 4 from G League Ignite, have been named to the sport, however not one in every of them was named Kuminga, prompting outcry from coaches and teammates. Drafted to a contending group, Kuminga hasn’t had the identical taking part in time as lots of his friends however has shined in more and more out there minutes.
On the time, Klay Thompson referred to as Kuminga’s exclusion a “travesty.”
As Kerr famous whereas advocating for Kuminga, he's the kind of participant who has an opportunity to placed on a present in an exhibition.
“He’s excellent for a sport like that. No person’s gonna play any protection,” Kerr stated final week. “He’d have like 12 dunks and each one could be jaw-dropping.”
Kuminga, the third-youngest participant within the league at 19 years previous, is in a novel state of affairs for a prospect of his caliber.
It’s not usually lottery picks land on groups with instant title goals, surrounded by future Corridor of Famers. It value Kuminga taking part in time on the NBA stage early within the season, when on a lesser group his improvement may need come whereas nonetheless main the scoring column on a nightly foundation for a non-contender.
At 14.3 minutes per sport, Kuminga is taking part in lower than anybody chosen in entrance of him; amongst different lottery picks solely Moses Moody and Charlotte’s James Bouknight have logged fewer minutes this season. His 7.9 factors per sport rank 18th among the many rookie class, however no qualifying rookie has scored extra per 36 minutes than Kuminga (19.8).
Over his final seven video games, Kuminga has reeled off double determine scoring performances in all of them, forcing his manner on to the courtroom for 27.2 minutes per sport and averaging 15.7 factors over that stretch.
One one who is actually comfortable to see Kuminga in Cleveland: Charles Barkley. The TNT analyst and NBA Corridor of Famer went out of his manner on a current convention name to reward Kuminga.
“The man y’all should be speaking about in Golden State is that boy Kuminga,” Barkley stated, including that he believes Kuminga and Toronto rookie Scottie Barnes are the 2 from their draft class destined to be perennial All-Stars. “I stated coming in to the draft, I had dialog with NBA coaches and basic managers, I stated, pay attention there’s two guys on this board proper right here I’ll take these two guys and I’ll sleep comfortable for the subsequent 10 years. … If Kuminga was not taking part in for the Warriors, or Scottie Barnes was not taking part in in Toronto, we'd be speaking about these guys for Rookie of the Yr. As a result of they each are spectacular. …
“Kuminga to me is in a terrific state of affairs; so is Barnes,” Barkley continued. “They’ve each bought terrific coaches, they’ve bought nice veterans on the group which can be going to show them methods to be professionals. They’re not going to throw them on the market on a nasty group with a bunch of unhealthy gamers and play ’em 40 minutes an evening and get in a whole lot of unhealthy habits.”
On Friday, Kuminga will get a nationwide stage to place his progress this season — and, if we’re fortunate, his unbound athleticism — on show inside Cleveland’s Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
Kuminga’s choice marks the Warriors’ fourth participant to take part within the Rising Stars sport within the final three seasons — James Wiseman and Mychal Mulder in 2021; Eric Paschall in 2020 — after the group went 5 straight years with no consultant.
Kuminga can be one in every of 5 Warriors in Cleveland, joined by Curry and Wiggins, who will begin within the All-Star Recreation, Inexperienced, who was chosen as a reserve however received’t play due to damage, and Toscano-Anderson, who's one in every of 4 contributors in Saturday night time’s dunk contest.