Is Jonathan Kuminga’s latest Warriors surge for real? ‘He turns a corner’

On By Littum

SAN FRANCISCO – Andrew Wiggins is a career 72.4 percent free throw shooter. He is at 78.6 percent this season. But early in his Warriors tenure, the veteran forward’s percentage dipped dramatically into the low 60s for two consecutive seasons — a long slump he’s now over.

That’s something Jonathan Kuminga specifically noted minutes after he capped his second straight game with 34 points with three massive free throws in the final 29 seconds of the Warriors’ 109-105 home win over the Suns on Saturday.

“I felt a little nervous,” Kuminga said. “I’m not going to lie. I’ve never been in a situation where I go to the free throw (line) and everybody’s quiet and I have to make those free throws.”

The 22-year-old Kuminga shot his free throws at a respectable rate for a power wing last season. He went 223-of-299 and finished at 74.6 percent. He expected those trend lines to remain on the rise as he entered his fourth year, but his efficiency tailed off instead. Before Saturday, Kuminga was shooting a career-low 63.2 percent from the line on a career-high 4.9 free throws per game. match. For a downhill forward who increasingly wants to live on the edge as his prime arrives, it’s a worrying plunge. So he sought out Wiggins.

“I was shooting well, my free throws, through all my practices,” Kuminga said. “But then — when I get to the game — something changed and I didn’t know what it was. Wiggs is one of the people who helped me. There was a year Wiggs was having a hard time shooting free throws. Same situation like mine… He just gave me a little tip.”

Wiggins asked Kuminga to simplify his routine and remove the unnecessary movement. In the days that followed, Kuminga made his free throws more often. Catch, dive, shoot. He has enjoyed 6-of-9, 6-of-8, 11-of-14 and 8-of-12 shooting at the charity stripe in his last four games. Overall, it’s 31-of-43 for a 72.1 percent clip, giving Kuminga more points and generating more confidence from Steve Kerr’s coaching staff to put the ball in his hands in key moments.

“I just think he’s turning a corner,” Kerr said.

Without the resting Steph Curry and Draymond Green, Kuminga scored a career-high 34 points against the LA Clippers on Friday night. Kerr raved after the game and before Saturday’s back-to-back about the way Kuminga got his motor going all night — cutting, slashing and constantly moving with a power that only he possesses on this Warriors roster. On several occasions, they isolated Kuminga against Ivica Zubac in space, and he zoomed past the Clippers’ starting center for several big layups.

“What I like is that he doesn’t settle for the 17-foot pull-up,” Kerr said. “He tries to get to the rim. If it’s not there, he throws it out. Then, late clock, he’s one of the few guys who can create a shot. That’s where the midcourt shot comes into play. The process is better.”

With Curry and Green back in the fold against the Suns, Kuminga matched his career high, making 12 of his 20 shots, which included two 3s and just about everything else at the rim. The Warriors brought him off the bench but featured him for large stretches of the game and at key times in the fourth quarter when he came through.

After the game, Kerr sounded like he was finally settling into a somewhat solidified rotation. He said he plans to keep starting Curry, Dennis Schröder, Wiggins, Green and Trayce Jackson-Davis while bringing Kuminga off the bench but giving him “starting minutes.” In the past two nights, Kuminga played 34 and 37 minutes as a reserve.

This again feels like a breakthrough moment for Kuminga, who is stepping up to a more prominent role in his fourth season. But anyone who’s tracked the Warriors even semi-loosely the past few seasons can recall a handful of other times when it felt like Kuminga’s time has only come for him to be minimized again. Is this case different?

“This feels different to me,” Kerr said. “It really does. There’s just a different power to his game. Last night you saw all the times he ran the floor, ran through the catch and attacked the rim. Nine rebounds tonight. The timely plays he made. It feels just different. It feels like he’s figuring out how he can affect the win, which is obviously the most important thing.”

Kerr highlighted a specific Kuminga reading late in the fourth quarter as a sign of growth. The Warriors were ahead with 2:36 left. Kuminga had the best offensive night on the team. He had already hit two 3s. But when Curry drove and zipped it out to him in the corner, Kuminga didn’t take the quick open 3, instead swinging it to Green on the wing, setting up the type of pin-in screen on a moving Curry that this Warriors’ system has thrive for a decade.

“(Curry) didn’t make it, but that’s the play where you have to recognize Steph’s your teammate, you see him cut through the lane, you swing the ball and set a screen for him,” Kerr said. “That’s the type of game that if he makes and does what he does, gets downhill, gets fouled, gets to the rim … Now the mix, the mix of Steph, Draymond, JK, now it begins really getting powerful. I’m just so impressed with JK.”

Here is the possession:

We’ll see how long that lasts, but Kerr again sounds committed to offering Kuminga in a high-usage role, meaning more minutes with Green under center than the undersized 13-year veteran would prefer. However, this is the only way to make the lineups work. Kerr finished with Curry, Schröder, Wiggins, Kuminga and Green, which would profile as Golden State’s best five-man unit.

“Coming into the season, I’ll be honest, I didn’t want to play a ton of fives,” Green said. “It’s hard. It worked. We were 12-3 or whatever. But when it doesn’t work, you have to look at what works. If it’s me at the five, I’m not loving it for the whole game at this point. But I love to win. If that’s what it looks like, that’s what it looks like. I told the guys we’ve got to win some games or we’re all going to be traded out of here.”

(Top photo: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)