Golden State Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga “plans to return to the lineup” when the Warriors host the Sacramento Kings on Thursday, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Tuesday. Kuminga has been sidelined since Jan. 4 with a sprained right ankle.
Golden State has won five straight games, 10 of its last 11 and 12 of its last 14. At 37-28, it’s sixth in the Western Conference, three games behind the fifth-place Houston Rockets with about a month left in the regular season. This is a much better position than the Warriors were in when Kuminga suffered the ankle injury, and he’ll be returning to a roster that looks significantly different, too.
How will Kuminga fit with Jimmy Butler? Where does he fit in the rotation? As of now, this is unclear, particularly because Kuminga does not command much respect as a spot-up shooter. Golden State coach Steve Kerr recently acknowledged that integrating him will be a challenge because the current group has been on a roll.
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“It’s a really difficult thing when you are playing really well and then you have a key guy coming back,” Kerr told reporters after the Warriors’ 115-110 win against the Detroit Pistons on Saturday. “It’s always tough. So I think the idea is just bring him along slowly, play him in short bursts, help him get his rhythm back. But we’ve gotta keep playing Gui Santos. We’ve gotta keep playing the guys who are helping us win right now. And so usually this stuff has to kind of play out, so we’ll hope that it plays out.”
Two weeks ago, Kerr told reporters that he’d sat down with Kuminga to watch film. They watched Kuminga’s own clips, and they watched clips of Butler. Kerr called Butler “the perfect guy for JK to emulate,” as Butler “just plays fundamental basketball” and “makes the simple play over and over again.”
Kerr has repeatedly said that Kuminga was playing the best basketball of his career leading up to the injury. That stretch included a pair of 34-point games in late December. The Warriors aren’t looking for him to pick up right where he left off, but to fit in to a team that has established a rhythm with Butler in the fold.
In 32 games this season, Kuminga, who will be a restricted free agent this summer, has averaged 16.8 points (on .459/.345/.639 shooting splits), 5.0 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 26 minutes per game. Down the stretch, he doesn’t need to maintain that scoring average, but ideally he’ll improve his efficiency.
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