Draymond accepts Warriors bench role to maximize Kuminga

Draymond accepts Warriors bench role to maximize Kuminga originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO – With Steph Curry and Draymond Green out due to injuries Thursday night against the Houston Rockets, Jonathan Kuminga started for only the sixth time this season, and the 22-year-old was cleared for takeoff, leading the Warriors to a gritty win to snap their five-game losing streak behind a career-high 33 points.

Curry and Green were deemed good to go on the second night of a back-to-back. Curry of course was the Warriors starting point guard, but there was a major change to Steve Kerr’s first five on the floor in Golden State’s 107-90 loss against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Kuminga was in the starting lineup. Green was not.

The change is here to stay too, at least for now.

“I want to look at it,” Kerr said. “We’re trying to maximize Jonathan. Playing him with [Andrew Wiggins], playing [Kevon Looney] to start that group means that Draymond doesn’t have to guard the opposing center right from the get-go, which I think is important, and we can close with Draymond at the five.

“So in theory, I like what it looks like. We have to play better. We have to make better decisions.”

Obstacles can get in the way of Kerr’s plan, though. Andrew Wiggins left Friday night’s loss early due to a right ankle impingement, and Moses Moody also exited early because of left knee soreness.

The whole idea of Green coming off the bench, however, is all about Kuminga. After experimenting with him at small forward to begin the season, Kerr has been adamant that Kuminga is a four, not a three, and doesn’t want to play him alongside two non-shooting big men.

In this case, that means not sharing the floor with Green and Looney at the same time.

“We’re trying to make the most of Jonathan’s ability to get downhill, to get him more time,” Kerr explained. “He and Wiggs last night were fantastic. We’re searching for ways to get those guys more involved and not wear down Draymond and Steph.

“That’s kind of the trick. And then finding combinations within that as the game goes.”

The real question is, how does Green feel about the move?

He has come off the bench before when returning from injury. This move would be different. It would be clearing a path for a player much younger than him. Not a full passing of the torch, but a change in that direction.

Green says he feels great physically after missing his first game of the season due to left calf soreness. Mentally, he’s willing to do whatever is needed for the Warriors, losers of six of their last seven games after starting the season 12-3, to get back on track.

Kerr called Green and told him the decision was something he had been thinking about and wanted to make sure he was OK with it.

“Of course I’m OK with it,” Green said. “I’ve been one of JK’s biggest fans since he’s been here. If he has an opportunity to start, you can’t be hypocritical. … I’m a fan of his, I want to see him do well. If his opportunity goes through me, it is what it is. That’s his opportunity and he earned that opportunity.

“That’s kind of how I view it. That was my rationale. He played extremely well last night.”

The four-time champion who’s in Year 13 alluded to his own path to the starting lineup in Kerr’s first year as the Warriors’ head coach.

“I am a product of my vet being willing to take a backseat for me,” Green said. “You’ve got to give back what came to you. That’s what this is about.”

David Lee was an NBA All-Star for the Warriors in the 2012-13 season and then averaged 18.2 points and 9.3 rebounds per game the next year. But the door was opened for a much younger Green to leapfrog Lee as a much better fit for Kerr’s system, and the move was a key factor in the Warriors winning their first championship in 40 years.

Except the reason Green even became a starter was because of a hamstring injury to Lee, who was Wally Pipp’d by the future Hall of Famer.

“I don’t necessarily look at it as this demotion,” Green said. “I’m a starter in the NBA, I know that. I don’t look at it like that. But if it’s something to help this team win, I’m always going to be for it. I hate losing. If you got something that’s going to help this team win, you’re not going to get an argument from me.”

When asked if he would take a backseat and come off the bench earlier in his career, Green gave an emphatic “Hell no, no chance.” From training camp on, he also has spoken about his responsibility in seeing the Warriors thrive well beyond his playing days being done.

Kuminga has years and years and years left in his career, barring injury. Green isn’t about to unlace his Nikes tomorrow, but time is much more on the side of someone 12 years younger than him.

“I care about this organization, and I know a lot of people in this organization, including myself, think he’s next,” Green said. “If he’s next, at some point we’ve got to see it. For him to do that, he needs the opportunity. Like I said, if the opportunity falls on you, being me, then that’s what it is and you got to figure it out.

“He’s earned the right to get that opportunity. When I come back here in 10 years and I’m even more grey than I am now, I want to see this franchise thriving. If he’s the guy that’s gonna do that, which I think he’s more than capable of, then great – that’s perfect.”

Egos have to be left outside of the arena. The Warriors learned that the last two years following their championship in 2022. Green and Curry desperately want to get back to the mountaintop. If that means the ultimate sacrifice, so be it.

Maybe it’s one game. Maybe it’s two. Maybe it’s three, and maybe it’s for months to come.

However it all pans out, Curry commends his longtime teammate’s selflessness, sending a message to the rest of the team.

“First off, it shows professionalism,” Curry said. “It shows his commitment to us trying to figure out what rotations work, what lineups work, what the flow should be. … We have to be able to sacrifice for the group. It’s, again, the DNA of this team right now. Until we figure out who we really are, who knows what it’s going to look like.”

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