A Golden State Warriors player jumps to shoot while two Toronto Raptors players raise their arms to block him during a basketball game.A Golden State Warriors player jumps to shoot while two Toronto Raptors players raise their arms to block him during a basketball game.
Jonathan Kuminga appeared in his first game for the Warriors since Dec. 18. | Source: Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images
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A somber Chase Center crowd was quiet after a lifeless first quarter on Tuesday night against the Raptors. Golden State looked flat, frustrated, and was still reeling from Jimmy Butler’s season-ending ACL tear less than 24 hours before.
But at the start of the second, the building erupted. Enter: the long-absent Jonathan Kuminga.
The 23-year-old made a surprise appearance in the Warriors’ first post-Butler rotation amid Steve Kerr’s ongoing existential dilemma. The coach has concluded that Kuminga doesn’t fit into a Warriors’ system, and it led to 16 consecutive DNPs. The former 2021 lottery pick had been glued to the end of the bench for over a month and, since becoming trade-eligible on Jan. 15, has requested a move. Checking in at the scores table, Kuminga received a healthy standing ovation from a significant portion of fans.
In the third quarter, with Golden State facing a 26-point deficit, the volume peaked.
Kuminga took flight and pounded in a lob from Draymond Green. A 12-point outburst from the wing ignited a 44-point third quarter for the Warriors, and finally breathed some life into a game that looked over far too early.
Kuminga was impactful down the stretch — in 21 minutes on the court, he put up 20 points on an efficient 7-of-10 mark and grabbed five boards. His athleticism, playmaking, and confidence forced attention, and served as a reminder of why the fifth-year player is still considered one of Golden State’s most intriguing talents. Even one of his bigger skeptics was impressed.
“I thought JK was really good and it’s a great sign,” Kerr said. “With Jimmy out, obviously there’s a hole at that spot on our roster. JK’s gonna factor in there again and really pleased with the way he stayed ready.”
Golden State’s four-game win streak came to a halt in the 145-127 loss on the final night of the team’s eight-game home stretch.
Kerr spent the better part of the season’s opening two months playing around with a revolving door of lineups. With a starting five and consistent second unit finally pieced together, the Warriors felt confident in their depth and enjoyed their best stretch with a 12-4 run.
Now, it’s right back to experimentation. Butler is irreplaceable, and his absence also has a domino effect. Filling those roughly 16 non-Steph Curry minutes a night is arguably the trickiest adaptation.
Kerr started Brandin Podziemski, who had a season-high 24 points against Miami on Monday, because he believed the third-year guard was best suited for the matchup with Toronto’s length and athleticism. The Warriors’ starters were instead overwhelmed by the Raptors, and Kerr expects it will take “trial and error” to sort out a new rotation.
When the Warriors are without Curry on the floor, Kerr predicted Podzieski and De’Anothy Melton could continue stabilizing the second unit. That was before he saw an unlikely group in Kuminga, Buddy Hield, Will Richard, Pat Spencer, and Trayce Jackson-Davis lead the team’s strongest push night and knock at a comeback in the fourth quarter. Hield, who’d seen his action dwindle in the weeks prior to Saturday’s win over the Hornets, erupted for 25 points, knocking in 6-of-6 3-point attempts in 19 minutes.
Curry and Draymond Green sat the entire fourth quarter as Kerr had 10 players on the floor for for at least 10 minutes. It’s unlikely Spencer, Jackson-Davis, and even Kuminga will see regular minutes, but the coach acknowledged he has to try everything.
“The puzzle completely changes,” Kerr said. “You have to get a feel for things over a longer stretch, we’ll experiment in these next several games and try to find the right combinations.”
Despite Butler’s injury, the Warriors believe they’re better equipped to handle adversity than last year’s team. The biggest differences? Melton, returning from his own torn ACL, and Al Horford, their 39-year-old old stretch five.
With Curry still playing at All-Star starter level, those two players — along with the development of Richard and Quinten Post — give Kerr and company the most hope of finding “meaningful basketball” come April and May.
Turning the page without Butler comes down to winning on the margins, too. He accounted for 7.6 of the Warriors’ 22.1 free throw attempts per game, production no one else on the roster consistently replicates. Those gimme points, plus those moments to reset defensively, go a long way for Golden State.
To Kerr, offsetting that loss means leaning into pace, particularly in transition. But in Tuesday’s defeat, the Warriors did the opposite. They coughed up 19 turnovers that led to 37 Raptors points and managed just five points on the fast break while limping to a 65.4% night (17-26) at the free throw line.
Even in the lopsided loss, the Warriors showed they have players capable of stepping into the void. Kuminga’s energy, Hield’s shooting, and Melton’s downhill attack can all, at least temporarily, help until the Feb. 5 NBA trade deadline forces bigger changes. In a pregame presser, general manager Mike Dunleavy evaluated the state of his team, acknowledging it’s too soon to pick a clear direction for Golden State to take in the wake of Butler’s injury.
For now, the season’s fate — and that of a fading dynasty — will hinge on adaptation from Golden State’s current mix and their front office’s willingness and ability to take bold action before the deadline.
“Jimmy is who Jimmy is for a reason,” Green said. “So to think that A) one person is going to fix it, or B) we’re going to fix it in one day, it’s not realistic … but I believe we can figure it out.”