A new era appears to be dawning on the Golden State Warriors. After much dilly-dallying, the Warriors look as though they're now willing to hand over the keys to the team to Jonathan Kuminga — promoting him to the starting lineup, as it seems, for good, even if it may come at the expense of Draymond Green once Andrew Wiggins returns to the lineup.
Kuminga's role has been yanked around throughout his Warriors tenure, but Green, Stephen Curry, and head coach Steve Kerr all appear to be in unison about giving the 22-year-old forward as heavy of a workload as he can handle on the offensive end, believing him to be a crucial part of the team's future.
But other Warriors youngsters may not be as lucky as Kuminga; Kuminga, at the very least, has been given a chance to start in the past, and he has, on multiple occasions, shown that he can fill up the scoring column, as evidenced by his 33-point outing in a huge win for the Dubs over the Houston Rockets on a night when both Curry and Green were missing due to injuries.
However, it might be high time for the Warriors to give this man all the minutes he can handle even though the depth chart may be crowded.
It's time for the Warriors to give Moses Moody a shot
Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) celebrates with guard Moses Moody (4) during the fourth quarter against the Sacramento Kings at Golden 1 Center.
Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images
The Warriors have been very strict with regards to their handling of Moses Moody's workload. Moody has been in and out of the Warriors' rotation throughout his four seasons with the team thus far even though the 22-year-old has shown that he can be a positive contributor — even contributing to the team's championship run in 2022 with the crucial minutes he played in the Western Conference Finals against the Dallas Mavericks.
And it looked like the 2024-25 season was shaping up to be a big one for Moody. He and the Warriors came to terms on a three-year, $37.5 million extension, and with such a financial commitment usually means that one would be a fixture in the rotation — even featuring heavily on a nightly basis. But this hasn't been the case for Moody thus far this season.
Moody played a grand total of five minutes in the Warriors' most recent win over the Minnesota Timberwolves, with coach Steve Kerr opting to play the likes of Gary Payton II, Buddy Hield, Brandin Podziemski, and Lindy Waters III over the 22-year-old. Now, Payton and Hield played crucial roles in getting the Dubs the victory, but one would think that Moody deserves an extended look in the rotation more than Waters or Podziemski, especially with the former struggling as of late.
(It is worth mentioning that Moody dealt with a knee injury and had to leave early, but the point that his role is limited remains.)
The 22-year-old wing is somehow playing even fewer minutes per game this season than he did last year, as he is only playing 15.6 minutes a night through the Dubs' first 23 games of the season. And it's the variance in his role that remains perplexing; there are nights when the Warriors opt to play him around 20 minutes a night, and there are some games when you would think he had done something so unforgiving that they glue him to the bench for a good portion of the ballgame.
Related Golden State Warriors NewsArticle continues below
It has gotten to the point where even Moody aired out a bit of frustration stemming from the fact that he has been unable to build for himself a nice rhythm considering that he doesn't know what to expect, role-wise, on a game per game basis.
“That's not a luxury I've had through my career so, I've kind of had to figure out how to play. Whatever happens, whatever the opportunity is. I kind of just deal with whatever,” Moody said back on November 25 following the Warriors' heartbreaking loss against the Brooklyn Nets.
Of course, there is a reason that Kerr is the Warriors' head coach and that he makes decisions that he believes is best for his team. He has earned that benefit of the doubt. But it is perplexing that Moody cannot fashion for himself a consistent role that even players who joined the team after he did have earned more of Kerr's trust.
It doesn't help at all that Moody is dealing with an injury at the moment, giving the Warriors even more of a reason to prioritize other players. Him signing an extension also means that there is no reason for the team to placate him to get him to stay for the foreseeable future. But Moody deserves a shot at extended minutes and a shot at establishing a rhythm before he gets de-prioritized in favor of those who may not stay on the team as long as he will anyway.