SAN FRANCISCO -- Whenever Jonathan Kuminga steps on the court for the Warriors, there's bound to be oohs and aahs from the crowd, sometimes a whole lot. The latter was true Tuesday night in the Warriors' 130-92 blowout win over the Dallas Mavericks.
Kuminga's latest highlight dunk came at the expense of Mavs guard Josh Green, punctuating the boost the rookie gave Golden State off the bench and just what a complete win this really was.
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He called it his favorite dunk so far of his rookie year, and it's easy to see why.
"I mean, I haven't gotten up like that yet," Kuminga said after the win.
The slam was sure to make its rounds on social media, and it really was part of the bigger picture in Kuminga's game against the Mavs. Since the Warriors were able to find some rhythm from deep, get it going from the mid-range and had 31 assists, the floor was opened up.
Thus, Kuminga's skill set was set up to shine.
Golden State Warriors
"Because the floor was spaced and we had a good flow to our game, Jonathan was able to use his athleticism and his speed and free himself up," Steve Kerr said. "You can see just how powerful he is as an athlete, how explosive and it's fun to see that connection happen.
"That transition dunk was just spectacular."
The only times that Kuminga had some trouble Tuesday night was when he tried to do too much with the ball in his hands. All you have to do, though, is look at his shot chart and see a recipe for success.
Kuminga threw down three dunks and had one dunk attempt swiped away as he was going up. He also added two points on a driving layup to the basket and took advantage of Dallas' defense leaving him open from beyond the arc. The result was him scoring a team-high 22 points in 18 minutes off the bench while going 8-for-9 from the field and a perfect 4-for-4 from 3-point range.
His four 3-pointers tied a career high and was another exclamation mark on his development.
"It felt great," Kuminga said of catching fire from deep. "I've been working on my shot since I got drafted here. The way we play, the way the ball moves and the people we got on the floor, there's always gonna be a trap or when they get it and kick it out, you're always gonna be wide open.
"... Just standing out there gives me more confidence and it opens it up for everybody else."
The 19-year-old has answered the call when coaches pointed out his lack of hustle running down the floor. He has worked hard to be better on the boards, another area that his coaches made clear to him, and he is focused on improving what might have been his biggest negative going into the draft with his shot.
Last season with the G League Ignite, he shot just 24.6 percent on 3-pointers, which certainly didn't help his draft stock.
Through his first 19 games in the NBA, Kuminga made only 11.8 percent of his 3-point attempts. He was just 2-for-17 from there at the time. But starting with an ugly loss to the Toronto Raptors where he scored a career-high 26 points and went 4-for-6 on 3-pointers, Kuminga now has shot 43.9 percent (18-for-41) on his attempts from long distance in his last 17 games.
The athleticism and future highlight-reel plays never were in question with Kuminga. Kerr called out his explosion and physicality, two attributes that are easy to see every time he wears a Warriors jersey and whenever he jumps for a jam or to grab a rebound. Instead of throwing him to the wolves, though, Kerr and the Warriors have challenged Kuminga to get better at everything else for a championship team while they can showcase his growing game in the meantime.
"What we're working on with him every day is defensive responsibilities and different positions," Kerr said. "Different schemes, what his responsibilities are if he's guarding the ball, if he guarding the screener, if he's guarding the weak-side low-man, they're all different responsibilities and he has to learn them all.
"One of the reasons we've brought him along slowly is he's got to learn those things before we can really trust him to play big minutes. In my mind, it's a really organic, natural way to bring a young player along rather than just give him minutes. He's got to earn them my making plays and making the right reads."
It was one week ago that Kerr called Kuminga his new starting power forward, with a caveat, as Draymond Green remains sidelined to a back injury. The plan lasted only one more game as Kuminga went from his first career double-double to not even attempting a shot and looking lost while starting in an upset loss to the Indiana Pacers. He was a minus-7 the next night against the Houston Rockets and only played eight minutes while being held scoreless against the Jazz.
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And then, boom! Just like that, Kuminga was the Warriors' leading scorer vs. the Mavs after having only five points through the first three quarters. Blink and you wouldn't have even known he had another breakout performance. He played the entire fourth quarter and scored 17 points and made all three of his 3-point attempts.
For 12 minutes, he wasn't a rookie. He was a star, showing off a scary amount of skills.
Those skills will continue to grow, and it's his natural development and understanding of how to grow his overall game that will allow him to one day reach his superstar potential and make the Warriors that much better now in Year 1.
This is going to be fun to watch.