On the surface, Jonathan Kuminga's final season with the Golden State Warriors may appear relatively normal. After all, he averaged 13.3 points and 6.1 rebounds per game in 23 appearances with Golden State during the 2025-26 campaign, exceeding his career averages in both categories. By the end of his tenure, he was sidelined with a bone bruise in his knee, and the Warriors acquired a talented, yet durability-challenged big man in Kristaps Porzingis that would fit well with Stephen Curry and Draymond Green. However, a closer look reveals a lot more drama, and Warriors fans are not having a lot of fun at the moment.
For one thing, Kuminga appeared in only 23 games for the Warriors this season and, while some of his absences were due to injury, some of them were ... not. Warriors head coach Steve Kerr never seemed to fully buy into the Kuminga experience, including a slew of DNP-CDs, and it was clear to anyone paying close attention that a parting of ways simply had to happen at some point given how challenged (or even toxic?) things had become on all sides. Fast-forward to Kuminga's arrival with the Atlanta Hawks, however, and things could not possibly be going worse for Warriors fans that were also of the belief that Kuminga was being underutilized in Golden State.
Jonthan Kuminga is flying high in Atlanta
It took a while for Kuminga for debut in Atlanta because of the knee injury but, when he did last week, the former lottery pick hit the ground running. In three appearances, Kuminga is averaging 21.3 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 1.3 steals per game, even while playing less than 30 minutes per game in a supporting role. Kuminga is shooting a whopping 67.7 (!) percent from the field with the Hawks, and he has provided a badly needed injection of rim pressure for Atlanta, including 7.3 free throw attempts per contest.
Beyond the impressive counting stats, Kuminga is also playing the way that the Hawks have wanted him to play. He is defending with purpose. He is juicing Atlanta's transition game. He is making quick, decisive choices with the ball rather than holding it in service of self-creation. Kuminga is also averaging more than three assists per game, showcasing passing chops that were not always readily apparent in his time with the Warriors.
It is certainly notable that the Hawks have not exactly faced stellar competition since Kuminga's arrival. In fact, Atlanta faced the lowly Washington Wizards in two straight games, followed by a home game against the Portland Trail Blazers in which the visitors were on the second night of a back-to-back and playing without Deni Avdija, Shaedon Sharpe, and Robert Williams. As such, the Hawks were "supposed" to win all three games.
Still, Atlanta absolutely blasted the Wizards and Blazers in a way that should never be assumed, and Kuminga was a big part of that success. In his 80 minutes on the floor to date, the Hawks are out-scoring opponents by 30.9 points per 100 possessions. That level of dominance is utterly unsustainable, but that does not change the reality that Kuminga's early returns in Atlanta have left Golden State fans with a justifiably sour taste.
Why couldn't this have been the reality with the Warriors? Why is Kuminga able to enjoy this level of success immediately after leaving?
Making these worse for the Warriors faithful, Porzingis has been a non-entity to date. There is some mystery about Porzingis's exact health status, but he remains sidelined with illness, adding fuel to the fire.
On one hand, it was fairly clear that Kuminga and the Warriors needed to break up. On the other, the Hawks may have gotten a sweetheart deal to extract Kuminga from the situation, and the hopes and dreams of Warriors fans of Kuminga as a two-way force with athleticism and skill could be coming together... 3,000 miles away.