Paul Pierce was The Truth.
Allen Iverson was The Answer.
Jonathan Kuminga might as well be called The Question.
The Warriors are riding high in a post-Jimmy Butler trade world. The team’s two stars have the Dubs playing 48 full minutes of competitive basketball, not just the 33 minutes Steph Curry is on the court. The team’s 6-1 record with Butler in the lineup is a testament to how important those 15 extra minutes are to the Dubs.
With the long-vacant No. 2 role now filled, the rest of the Warriors—a herd that has thinned out a bit after the Dubs sent out four players in return for Butler—have slotted into clear and appropriate roles.
The Warriors look organized on the court because, for the first time since the 2022 playoffs, they are also organized off it. This team now has a direction.
Kuminga, however, has been sidelined for all of it. The uber-athletic forward, who appeared to be taking a step forward in his career before injury, hasn’t played since rolling his right ankle on Jan. 4.
And as strange as this might seem, everything fell into place for him while he was away.
He no longer needs to be a 20- or 30-point-per-game scorer on a nightly basis. He no longer needs to feel out what his team needs from him every night — a responsibility that was never formalized, but was undeniably implied every time he stepped on the court. It was all too unfair to a 22-year-old who can do it all but was still finding his way in the league.
Kuninga wasn’t ready for prime time. He might never be.
On the old Warriors — the pre-Butler Dubs — that was a problem. He was just another enigma on a team filled with far too many of them. (At least Kuminga had a viable excuse — inexperience.)
But now, less is more for the forward.
The Warriors have 24 games remaining this season, and Kuminga is expected to return to the lineup at some point on the team’s current five-game road trip.
And all Kuminga has to do upon his return is follow the first truth of the NBA:
Talent brings you into the league, but a role keeps you in it.
That role for Kuminga might not be one he initially likes: sixth man and, in effect, Butler’s backup.
It’s simply an issue of spacing. With Draymond Green starting at center these days, the Warriors are putting two non-shooters on the floor in the starting lineup — Green and Butler.
A third — and Kuminga, must still be considered a non-shooter — would be too much.
Perhaps the Warriors can try a new “Death Lineup” with Green, Kuminga, Butler, Brandin Podziemski, and Curry — good luck scoring against that front line — but so long as the 3-point line exists, that five-man unit is for special occasions only.
So while everyone agrees that Kuminga is a better player than the surging Moses Moody, the latter should stay in the starting lineup, with Kuminga staggering his minutes with Butler.
The job is simple in those minutes: Attack the hoop and defend like hell. Doing the little things right — like playing dogged perimeter defense — will pay off in big ways for Kuminga in the Dubs.
In the case of Kuminga, quite literally.
For the first time since his rookie season, when he had a marginal role on the title team, Kuminga is being asked to fit into something competent.
The last two years, as the Warriors have meandered for meaning, Kuminga has been given a wide berth to play the game as he sees fit, which has far too often conflicted with how the Warriors want to play basketball.
At the same time, the Warriors couldn’t play that style the past two seasons, so what was Kuminga to fit into?
They’re playing it now, though.
It’s not that the Warriors don’t need Kuminga. They do. He’s their X-factor this season—he can take them to a different level.
But this team no longer goes as he goes. With restricted free agency looming for Kuminga after this season and a $30 million-plus annual contract on the line, it’ll be fascinating to see how the new paradigm affects the Congolese forward and, in turn, the Dubs.
For four years, Kuminga has operated as a hypothetical. His reputation has been built on projection, not production, even as the latter has reached impressive levels.
But that equation will change upon his imminent return.
Yes, some things changed while Kuminga was away. In many ways, things are set up perfectly for him to be the best version of himself.
We all know Kuminga is talented, but is he a winning player? It’s time to get a definitive answer to that question.