Alas, the time has come.
After missing the last 31 games with an ankle injury, Jonathan Kuminga is set to make his return to the hardwood when the Warriors host the Sacramento Kings on Thursday at Chase Center, The Athletic's Anthony Slater reported Tuesday, citing sources.
Kuminga will go through "necessary final checkpoints," including practice on Wednesday, before officially being given the green light to end his two-month hiatus, Slater added.
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Jonathan Kuminga is expected to return Thursday against the Kings, per sources. Kuminga will go through necessary final checkpoints, including tomorrow's practice, but current plan is for his 31-game absence to end as Warriors prep for playoff push.https://t.co/vT4OY65AGb
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) March 11, 2025
Kuminga sustained the injury during Golden State's win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Jan. 4 when he jumped up to block a shot and rolled his ankle on the way down.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr acknowledged that while there wasn't a setback with Kuminga's recovery, the injury itself was "more serious" than originally believed.
Before the injury, Kuminga was coming off the best stretch of basketball of his career. In the five weeks leading up to the early January injury, the 22-year-old was averaging 19.8 points on 46.7-percent shooting from the field and 37.3 percent from 3-point range, along with 5.6 rebounds per game. He scored 30 or more points in three of those games, at least 20 in eight, exactly 19 in two and 18 in another.
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The Warriors have gone 19-12 without Kuminga, largely thanks to the addition of six-time NBA All-Star Jimmy Butler, whom the team acquired the night before the NBA's Feb. 6 trade deadline.
Golden State now is 10-2 with Butler, who's expected to take Kuminga under his wing upon his return. Butler seems to make everyone around him better, and that likely will be no different for the young forward, who hopes to continue his hot streak.
The Warriors (37-28) currently sit in the Western Conference's No. 6 seed and are just three games behind the No. 5 seed Houston Rockets (40-25) with 17 regular-season games remaining. With Kuminga's looming return, that No. 5 seed doesn't feel as far out of reach as it once did.