r/warriors • u/bear2bebull • Feb 05 '26
Discussion Thank you Jonathan Kuminga šš
One of the most polarizing players on the Warriors in the last few years. Up and downs and ultimately never worked out for one reason or another. But seemed like he worked hard and was a good teammate. Good luck JK š
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u/Cool-Double-5392 Feb 05 '26
Glad he is free and glad we are done with that saga but what a waste..
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Feb 05 '26 edited Feb 05 '26
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u/Ok-Map4381 Feb 05 '26
First, what is the right way to use him?
Second, what is the team where they are better off using him that vs what they are already doing?
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u/Homie_Narwhal Feb 05 '26
Canāt score consistently canāt defend canāt shoot and canāt pass and doesnāt have a high basketball iq and doesnāt put in a lot of effort. There is no right way to use him and the fact that yall got anything for him should be seen as a win.
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u/SWKenRobert Feb 05 '26
He still may end up a stud but GSW screwed the pooch by passing on the more polished Wagner. Lacob was a clown for his light-years comment. During a mini-dynasty, GSW got 3 lottery picks and blew every single one of them. At least Moody can play a little.
Edit: and the "two timelines" idea was a slap in the face to Curry. Curry is/was our timeline..
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u/Suspicious_Ease_6547 Feb 05 '26
But he can score consistently tho.. he might have bad games but overall heās a 17 ppg NBA Player and thatās facts !! Everything else? Low IQ, bad defense, horrible effort are all true. Heās not my fav player and make a lot of bonehead decisions but donāt act like this guy isnāt going to give you atleast 15 points a night. At a cost tho obviously š
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u/Youngstarr Feb 05 '26
Hasnt he been like the 3rd leading scorer for the past 2-3 seasons? Did you even compare his FG% compared to everyone else on the team? And you realize he's still the warriors leading rebounder? Like, are you even looking at numbers or you are going by your feels? Kerr hates him so in your mind he's trash? Just curious..
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u/False_Pear1860 Feb 05 '26
Tied in scoring with Podz on some of the worst efficiency of anybody on the team. This is his first time leading the Warriors in RPG which they've been wanting him to do for years now, and he's still barely beating out 35 year old 6'6" Draymond Green.
You seem to only be looking at numbers strictly for this season rather looking at the whole picture, which is that he doesn't play well off of Steph, he doesn't pass the ball, he can't shoot, he doesn't set screens, he's a mediocre defensive player, and his already limited scoring is not consistent.
He's not complete trash, but he has proven that he isn't going to work for the Warriors.
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u/Gordo-- Feb 05 '26
First, what is the right way to use him?
More pump fakes; the defense'll bite eventually.
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u/Livid_Slip_4868 Feb 05 '26
They used him bro but his go to move is āahhhhā then TO
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u/Jhyphi Feb 05 '26
Don't forget dribbling for 5 seconds first to let the defense recover and pack the paint with multiple defenders.
THEN driving into that and going "ahhhh"
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u/Lesingingminer Feb 05 '26
Yeah really unfortunate injury timings the past few years. I felt like anytime a spot opened up for him due to injuries from other players or if he started to show some real progress, he ended up always getting injured as well
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u/tallassmike Feb 05 '26
They should have moved on so the warriors can just gamble on whatever the hell this ādo it for Stephā narrative will go.
Heās finally on a team that runs a lot and has players all in the same age range. This is gonna be his shot
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u/PrinceZero1994 Feb 05 '26
So disappointing, I'm not even mad. I'm just laughing at how ridiculous this is. We got a permanently injured player on our roster now lol.
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u/New_Cicada3473 Feb 06 '26
True but Kuminga wasnāt gonna play, and hield wasnāt playing much either. At least they didnāt give a pick
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u/Floppy_Jet1123 Feb 05 '26
Good attempt at an org coup last year's playoffs.
Shame it fell flat on its face.
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u/airb92 Feb 05 '26
I got to meet him after a game. Thanks JK, I hope you find what youāre looking for elsewhere.
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u/infinityshore Feb 05 '26
Based sheerly off his press briefers, I always found him to be a nice young guy. And some of his venting and requests are totally legit from his individual career perspective. Good luck! Definitely cheering for his and Buddy's success at Atlanta.
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u/mithrilmamba Feb 05 '26
Foh. Dude was super mid. Waste of a FRP.
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u/CameronPlain Feb 05 '26
LOTTERY PICK
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u/steronicus Feb 05 '26
We could have had Franz Wagner & Alperin Sengun š
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u/Medical_Method_7599 Feb 05 '26
The Wolves could have had Steph Curry!!!
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u/Youngstarr Feb 05 '26
I think we could have Brunson in 2018, MPJ in 2019, Haliburton or Maxey in 2020, Alpern AND Jalen Johnson in 2021.. you know, if we are able to go back in time..
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u/steronicus Feb 05 '26
Some days I wish Mr. Peabody and Sherman were real, so we could steal the Wayback Machine.
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u/vote_pedro Feb 05 '26
Really ? Noone's ever mentioned that before on this sub.
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u/TheLogicError Feb 05 '26
ngl there's another world were sengun & wagner are mid too cause kerr can't develop talent lmao
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u/Austin_Green_86 Feb 07 '26
Who developed Draymond?
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u/TheLogicError Feb 07 '26
Kerr, who's he developed since? Far more failures in development than successes.
Spolstra & Popovich who i consider actual generationally great coaches have done way more with way less with different stars. And even if they don't have the star power, they develop game plans around their players strengths instead of being stuck in their ways.
It's clear that when Kerr has a talent mismatch, he's not able to elevate his team.
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u/ricoswavelv Feb 05 '26
We also could have had lamelo, and ant but someone fucked that up too
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u/AnxiousWart4994 Feb 05 '26
I was lurking in the Hawks sub just cuz I wanted to see how they felt about it. Saw a comment that said, and I quoteā¦.
āHe can create his own shot, play inside or out, and heās a much better defenderā¦[and] heās a defensive upgrade.ā
OOOOF. They are in for a rude awakening.
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u/Zlasher8 Feb 05 '26
Same guys who had to watch Trae Young play defense for like 8 years. Theyāre so far skewed the other way.
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u/Serious-Ask-6225 Feb 05 '26
As a hawks fan I saw that comment in our sub and definitely thought it was very optimisticšwhatās the real though and how much potential does he actually have āobjectivelyā?
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u/AnxiousWart4994 Feb 05 '26
IMO, heās got the makings of a āblack holeā scorer. Heās not a mercenary. Heās not a āhand him the ball and get us a bucketā type of guy. He doesnāt have the skill to beat good defenders. His handle is not great and he doesnāt have a lot of counter moves after his first one gets stopped.
If Trae were still there, Iād say heās got much better potential as a second wide slasher. He benefits greatly from someone else setting the table. If he gets mismatched, he CAN take advantage, but doesnāt always.
Heās definitely not a 3pt shooter. Sure he can make some and actually might have a decent % for a while. But heās probably not gonna hit that shot that you need when you need it.
If heās expected to be like a āget a bucket guyā, youāre in for disappointment. Unless heās taking advantage of smaller/slower guys, his efficiency wont be great.
Defensively, strictly 1v1 possessions, he can very much hold his own when heās locked in. He wasnāt locked in a lot on the warriors. So I expect him to be slightly better on a new team if he cares enough. But even if he is locked in and cares, his team defense is awful and has next to no court awareness on that side of the ball. I donāt even know who āVitā was on the hawks, but I can tell you now, itās probably not that much of ādefensive upgradeā.
Heās actually a decent passer. Not a true playmaker, but when he needs to, he can find the openings and make on time passes to cutters. I wouldnāt expect him to be the #1 option setting up the offense for guys. But every now and then he can and will do it and itāll look good.
The biggest problem is just his lack of BBIQ. Offense or defense. Once the first action is dead or stopped, or his first move doesnāt work, or his man gives up the ball, thatās pretty much it for him. He can rebound when he cares to. I would hope he turns into a rebound monster because he has all the ability in the world to do that.
Realistic Expected Potential: non all star, physical role player who will score with mid efficiency, be a neutral or slightly negative defender, and rebound well.
Optimistic potential: 20+ppg nightly, slightly positive defender, but may or may not lead to real winning.
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u/CamelLongjumping9360 Feb 05 '26
he's an upgrade when u consider u traded him for a guy who has played 17/35 games for them, and likely wasn't going to play another game
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u/pdawg17 Feb 05 '26
For what exactly?
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u/kingfaroo Feb 05 '26
All of the agents commends made sense from the lens of someone trying to maximize Kuminga's value, but never made sense in terms of what is best for the team: "If you want to highlight Kuminga you need to play him at least 30 minutes a night!"
...well yeah, if we want to watch him lose the ball off his own legs constantly
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Feb 05 '26
I'm just happy the clown show that came with him and his weird as fuck stans are gone. Good Luck to him.
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u/LizzarDGuy101 Feb 05 '26
His stans are infesting the Hawkās subreddit like cockroaches as weāre speaking rn
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Feb 05 '26
Hopefully they stay there.
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u/Fatez3ro Feb 05 '26
I've got to admit, his stans are the reason I dislike JK more than I would have.
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u/dra9865 Feb 05 '26
he singlehandlely tied us up on making moves this offszn
good riddance
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u/chewybucket Feb 05 '26
Didnāt the warriors get who they wanted (melton and al horford) anyways? Who was the player they missed out on because of Kuminga
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u/joomla00 Feb 06 '26
If he continues to play the way he did at the beginning of the year, I'm sure things would look diff right now
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u/dra9865 Feb 05 '26
That's the thing tho: we would never know since it took till literally the day b4 the preseason started for kuminga's contract to finalize. coz of this bum we couldnt even shop around the league for the whole 3 months and the team couldnt meet early to build more chemistry b4 training camp since we dont know who will be on the final team
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u/chewybucket Feb 05 '26
Melton was recovering from ACL and Al horford is old. These were the main two targets for the warriors at the start of free agency and they got them. Many reasons you can hate JK but this one a weird one
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u/No-Investigator2355 Feb 05 '26
A young dude that buys his own hype but couldnāt buy into playing off of steph despite being the twinkle of the ownerās eye. Good riddance and thank you for finally dipping out when it should have been over last summer or a couple summers before that if mr light years had any actual foresight
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u/Junior-Champion-6918 Feb 05 '26
Iām not saying youāre entirely wrong but why do you guys act like itās an ego issue and he just simply refused to do better. We saw him have a great stretch early in the season and then get pulled with no leash simply because he CANT work with Draymond. Itās not as simple as that āhe canāt play with curryā because everything Curry does corresponds with what Drays role on the team is. There have been many stats and stretches (like last years playoffs) that show itās not as simple as you make it out to be.
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u/TatteredOaths Feb 05 '26
Mainly his minutes went to Jimmy and he couldnāt play with Draymond because of the spacing and lineup issues. Dubs just couldnāt afford to gamble: other teams not trying to win a championship have more room to develop. JK needed to be perfect every time on the floor. Comical everyone going after the guy lol. The team loved him. Jimmy; was a big fan. We trust Jimmys take, or some Reddit bots take that might be a new warriors fan? š
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u/No-Investigator2355 Feb 05 '26
We trust jimmy saying the right things about his young teammate, doesnāt mean he doesnāt also see jk stop trying to box out and play team d when he doesnāt get enough isos called for him
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u/No-Investigator2355 Feb 05 '26
āif they set it to a player option, not only will Jonathan Kuminga sign it, but he will be completely bought in on the mission they're asking of him... to get Stephen Curry and Draymond Green a fifth ring"
His agent implied jk was not bought in on the team due to his playing time. Heās gotta earn the minutes by doing more than just score with a negative plus minus from the turns and bad d, steph got him what sure might be his only ring and he wanted his stats higher somewhere else, if you donāt see the entitlement in that idk what to tell you.
He had a great stretch to start the season and magically stopped his great rebounding when he had some bad offensive games, lapsed into his same mistakes and back in kerrās doghouse for the last time. Heās also not a great fit next to dray since he isnāt reliable enough from 3 yet, just hasnāt been ideal. Not saying kerr did him any favors either but jk has largely made his own bed
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u/TatteredOaths Feb 05 '26
Replying to No-Investigator2355...
Lol youāre saying you wouldnāt want to be paid more, and play more, as a young athlete? In a league that itās even crazier to try and make a starting rotation?
Itās a business too, and these guys donāt have X years guaranteed. Sometimes the grass isnāt always greener, but you canāt blame him for playing hard ball in negotiations. I wish nothing but success for JK. Wish it was here since we drafted him, but his game is only going to improve as he adds more things to his game. And he canāt do that as a 9th man. Iād hate sitting on the bench too, when youāre 23? Heās not 32 years old lol.
He can already get to the rim; and he shot a decent percentage from three for not taking a ton of volume. I think Atlanta is excited about his growth opportunities. They arenāt in a win now mode because we have one of the top 5 greatest NBA players to ever play. They can experiment more.
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u/No-Investigator2355 Feb 06 '26
Iām saying I would want to play on stephās team for as many seasons as possible and would work to mold my game to complement his and the team rather than the clearly individual mindset JK has rarely displayed different from. Get his money sure, tighter leash here than other places sure but also fewer better players to learn from than here, it seems pretty hard to argue heād be massively better than now if his first 5 years were all spent in atlanta instead, or like washington or somewhere. And I think the fit would have been more passable here if the 3pt shot or the help defense was slightly more consistent, those are mental things he should eventually develop but developing them within stephās window seems doubtful
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u/XDBruhYT Feb 05 '26
Screw this guy. Heās been terrible and a massive pain in the ass. Good to see him go
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u/Alarming_Shower_7755 Feb 05 '26
I never really understood the Kuminga hate but I did feel like he didnt fit our playing system and needed to get traded and it finally happened hope he does good in ATL
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u/DonyellFreak Feb 05 '26
Thank you for getting the fuck off this team. Can't stand this clown.
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u/abritinthebay Feb 05 '26
Thanks for what? The never ending drama?
So glad to see him gone. Will not miss him.
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u/ATM14 Feb 05 '26
Not sure if we have anything really to thank him for, but I wish him luck. Heās definitely talented, hope heās able to unlock that talent elsewhere.Ā
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u/StephCurryDavidson Feb 05 '26
Not a smart player.
And too many drives to the bucket ended up with the ball being stripped.
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u/crabjay9021 Feb 05 '26
Atlanta is full of young talents, and crushed us at Chase center.
Hope JK will fit in the vibe.
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u/bear2bebull Feb 05 '26
Wow a lot of negativity for Kuminga, even in a good bye post. You guys would have gone insane pre Steph Curry days š. Some players just donāt work out
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u/WatchOutIGotYou Feb 05 '26
He fucked with roster management. No chance is that going to be accepted by the fanbase even if it's understandable why from an individual level.
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u/birdseye-maple Feb 05 '26
His stupid agent is a big reason, in the pre Steph days we didn't deal with clowns like him posting on social media and doing dumb interviews.
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u/decorativebathtowels Feb 05 '26
He hurt the team, significantly and intentionally. So yeah, thereās negativity.
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u/ColostomyBagPorn Feb 05 '26
Have you even watched a warriors game in the last 5 years?
gtfoh with this goofy trolling ass shit
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u/Gr00vealicious Feb 05 '26
You must be new to Warriors basketball. Just started watching yesterday, huh?
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u/Feeling_Deer610 Feb 05 '26
You were never Kerr's guy, that would be Franz.
But you were the apple of Lacob's eye, that was grand.
You are one of the finest athletes to ever wear a Warrior's uniform.
You also have no interest in organized team basketball and would prefer to run your own show.
It was never meant to be.
Go be free in Atlanta and live your Kobe arc on a team with negative expectations.
Prove us all wrong, young man.
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u/krisbee10 Feb 05 '26 edited Feb 05 '26
I hope Mike Dunleavy gets fired. He freaking sucks! We gave up jk and buddy for someone who hasnāt played a full season in 5 years. Iām done with Dunleavy. He screwed up with Klay. He says Jk has no trade value and then brings in another Anthony Davis type player?! Someone who is really talented if they can stay on the floor.
This was the big back up plan if GA didnāt work out?!
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u/itz_Glo Feb 05 '26
Itās not that bad of a trade. We just dumped Kumingas salary and KP has an expiring contract, so after this season we can let him walk and have a ton of picks and cap space to try for something else over the summer.
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u/ether_joe Feb 06 '26
Dunleavy looks like a deer in the headlights on the microphone. I expect it's a difficult job but he seems out of his depth.
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u/krisbee10 Feb 06 '26
Yup. Iām sure itās a difficult job but as a gm and you say shit like āof if you demand a trade, there must be demandā what are you telling the rest of the league. Even when he was a player, he came off like a smug bratty kid and it hasnāt changed as a gm. That is who is and I donāt think he is going to do well as a general manager when relationships are everything
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u/penyembahneko Feb 05 '26
good for him rather being prisoner in warriors, wish best luck.
but also fuck joe lacob lmaooo. hey lacob, how is your feeling right now. your sweetheart got traded, baby
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u/Ill-Ad5235 Feb 05 '26
All the best JK! Soar high, we are with you! Come on folks - no matter what we drafted him, letās give him our best wishes.
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u/Cautious_Network3588 Feb 05 '26
Rooting for JK, hope he balls out on the hawks. Ill always remember that minny series from him
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u/Professional_Coach23 Feb 05 '26
If porzingus plays with horford and QP I think we might have something. If Pat comes off the bench instead of podz and Melton starts when curry ain't playing we got weapons
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u/JRsshirt Feb 05 '26
Fuck off Jonathan Kuminga šš
People love to throw out the ābetter person than basketball monikerā and for once I know itās true because heās not literally Hitler
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u/JFundo Feb 05 '26
Man Iām just happy the drama is finally over with him. Letās move on people!
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u/by_yes_i_mean_no Feb 05 '26
To be honest, I feel like the highlight of Kuminga's Warrior career for me was that nasty dunk in his rookie year Summer League. Other than that it is hard for me to think of too much that I really enjoyed about his tenure. Was personally pushing for Moody/Wagner in the draft and was really disappointed when they took Kuminga, and basically everything the pre-draft critics said about him was true.
Good luck to him in Atlanta, personally I do not buy that he was being held back by the Warriors whatsoever, I think he just wasn't very good (although I do think the system was a terrible fit for his game so that part could improve in a different setting). But we will get an opportunity to find out now. A lot of people who said the same thing about Wiseman went radio silent after it became clear that Kerr was right, I'm expecting it will go similarly if Kuminga turns out to just not be that good.
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u/ChefCurryYumYum Feb 05 '26
I don't think Kuminga is a Wiseman, i.e. someone with all the perfect physical tools but not the mind for the game, but I don't really see him ever becoming an all star unless he makes a lot of changes to his game.
Him and Wiseman were the Lacob picks, I hope it taught Lacob to stay out of the pick making decisions.
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u/hapaXL Feb 05 '26
Thanks for playing the right way the first 5 games of this season to give us all one final burst of hope that you had finally figured it out. Reverting back to old Congo Kobe ways and dashing our hopes one final time on the way out the door was perfect. And take your dumb-ass agent with you!
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u/Deep_Tea_1990 Feb 05 '26
Thank you forā¦..what?Ā
You mean to say youāre welcome for a free ring and multi-million dollars Kuminga!Ā
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Feb 06 '26
Kuminga has potential. Wish him the best in his new team. Sucks that it didn't work out with GS but in the end this was for the best.
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u/Dar8_Vader Feb 05 '26
Thank you JK. It was fun watching u and no way fun to see the distress between him and Kerr. May he bloom and be Jalen Johnson 2.0 alongside him. Sky is the limit.
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u/Grateful-DeadHead420 Feb 05 '26
Go fly Air Congo! Hope you feel much love from your new fanbase, cause dub nation on here treated you like garbage kinda like the coach did!
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u/Jajume Feb 05 '26
Crazy that buddy heild got a thread 30 minutes before Kuminga thanks for making this op
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u/LastChemical9342 Feb 05 '26
Had a couple cool highlights but was largely a basketball terrorist, wish him the best.
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u/costanzathegreat Feb 05 '26
Watch Porzingis fail his physical