After Tuesday night's win over the Memphis Grizzlies the Golden State Warriors have secured a spot in the playoffs. The seven-seed Warriors are set to take on the two-seed Houston Rockets.
While the Warriors have a massive advantage due to their playoff experience, the Rockets' athletic wing play could be challenging for Golden State. It's worth wondering if the Warriors will turn to Jonathan Kuminga who received back-to-back DNPs. Let's dive into Kuminga's possible impact in this series.
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The lead-up to this situation
The Warriors are coming off two high-stakes games against the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday and the Grizzlies on Tuesday. In both of these games, head coach Steve Kerr made the shocking decision to not play Kuminga. While Kerr and Kuminga have a well-documented negative history, a player of his caliber not playing is certainly surprising.
For the season, Kuminga was the Warriors' third-leading scorer, averaging 15.3 points in 24.3 minutes per game. After the Warriors got Butler, Kuminga's minutes dipped down to 20.8 per game, and he averaged 12.2 points per game. Regardless, he only received under 15 minutes per game once before his DNP on Sunday.
The Warriors could need Kuminga against the Rockets
Undoubtedly the Rockets' biggest strength is their athletic wing play led by Amen Thompson, Tari Eason, and Dillon Brooks. Kuminga is an elite athlete and finisher who can also provide solid defense. As a result, giving the 6-foot-8 forward some quality minutes off the bench would be logical. Some of the Warriors' other wings including Buddy Hield, Gui Santos, and Brandin Podziemski could be taken out of the game by the Rockets' elite defense, as they lack athleticism.
Furthermore, the Warriors lack shot creation outside of Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler, Kuminga would provide a needed scoring punch. Kuminga would be particularly impactful in the non-Butler minutes alongside Curry. Notably, the two-man lineup of Curry and Kuminga posted a plus-9.4 net rating on the season.
While giving Kuminga some minutes makes sense on paper, there's no guarantee Kerr will decide to do it as he has already benched him for the two most important games of the season. Additionally, the Clippers posed similar problems with their athletic wing play. It's possible Kerr opts not to play Kuminga until the Warriors get into trouble against Houston. Ultimately, the Warriors will likely need Kuminga at some point in this series, but it's unclear how much opportunity he'll be given.