Stephen Curry wants a young Golden State Warriors star to have room to impact the game without being under constant scrutiny.
The Golden State Warriors have continued their impeccable form since acquiring Jimmy Butler. They picked up a 123-116 win over the Los Angeles Lakers in a rivalry matchup with major consequences on the standings.
Stephen Curry excelled in this win. Coming off a signature 52-point performance in a win over xxx, Steph put up 37 points against the Lakers. Despite a quiet start, Curry scored 25 points in the second half. This thwarted any potential Lakers comeback attempts to seal the win.
Brandin Podziemski has been in a purple patch of form that continued with 28 points, eight rebounds, and six assists. Draymond Green’s campaign for Defensive Player of the Year remained alive with his excellent performance, highlighted with 11 powerful rebounds.
These performances made up for Jimmy Butler’s quiet 11 points. But his prediction on how he will boost the Warriors has proven to be prophetic. The team is 20-4 when Butler plays and are watching a young star peaking at the right time.
Jonathan Kuminga put up 18 points, nine rebounds, and four assists off the bench in a strong performance. Stephen Curry recognized Kuminga’s contributions and sent a message to the media about their harsh declarations on the 22-year-old forward this season.
“I think we need to just let this guy play basketball. We don’t have to have a declaration after every game. We don’t have to be in a situation where we are judging every minute he’s out there.”
Kuminga’s status on the Warriors is considered a huge question mark. He’s entering restricted free agency in the summer. Despite his spotty form, he is expecting to be highly compensated in a contract extension with the Warriors.
With players like Gui Santos emerging to take Kuminga’s rotational role, every performance by the 22-year-old is highly scrutinized. He recently returned from a 22-game absence due to injury and is adjusting back into the Warriors system.
Jonathan Kuminga is important to the Warriors’ success. He’s averaging 16.0 points and 4.7 rebounds this season, which would be the second-most of all players on the Warriors. While Jimmy Butler has averaged 17.2 points since joining, Kuminga was here all season and playing a huge role for the team.
Giving him room to grow on the court is simply not tenable at the moment with the Warriors’ win-now intentions. However, if Kuminga isn’t given the room to grow, he won’t be able to fulfill his potential as a former top-five pick.
He’s considered to be far from the finished product, yet he was a major contributor. Steve Kerr adjusted the roster in his absence, and it didn’t seem like Kuminga was gravely missed outside of being an impactful rotational body.
Even with his numbers, justifying a $200 million contract will be hard. But he could prove everyone wrong by being an impactful Playoff star. This would force the Warriors to compensate him after a proven sample of winning contributions.
But like Curry said, there’s no point in delving into his future with every performance. However, Kuminga will have to deal with this being a major talking point through the end of the season. Meanwhile, fans are waiting to see how this plays out.
