Why Warriors’ Jonathan Kuminga will likely come off the bench when he returns from knee injury

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If Jonathan Kuminga returns to the Golden State Warriors’ lineup on Friday against the Dallas Mavericks, he will likely come off the bench. The reason is simple: In Kuminga’s absence, the Warriors have started rookie big man Trayce Jackson-Davis next to Draymond Green, and their defense has been incredible.

“Trayce and Draymond together have changed our team,” Kerr told reporters after Golden State’s 133-110 win against the Houston Rockets on Thursday. “It’s pretty dramatic. Just the rim protection, the rebounding that Trayce gives us, what that allows Draymond to do, it’s been really fun to watch them together.” 

Kuminga has missed the Warriors’ last five games with knee tendinitis. In that stretch, they have gone undefeated and held opponents to 105.1 points per 100 possessions with a plus-11.7 net rating. Those numbers undersell how good the starters have been: With Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, Green and Jackson-Davis on the court, Golden State has held opponents to 89.1 points per 100 possessions with a net rating of plus-26.4 since Kuminga’s injury. 

It is too early to say that this is the Warriors’ new Death Lineup. That sample represents 41 minutes spread over four games (Thompson missed their 115-97 win against the Charlotte Hornets last week), and before this stretch, the lineup had played only eight minutes together. (Including those minutes, its net rating is even better: plus-28.4.) When this sort of thing happens, though, Kerr likes to see where it goes, dating back to Green supplanting David Lee in Kerr’s first season.

“We’ve established something here for years: If we’re playing well, we generally keep the same starting lineup,” Kerr said. “I mean, I’ve kept Steph and Draymond out of the starting lineup when they’ve been in that situation, so we’ll see how we play it.”

Kerr then noted that Golden State has “some guys banged up.” Wiggins didn’t play in the fourth quarter on Thursday because “he tweaked his ankle,” Kerr said. The coaching staff will figure out the starting lineup for the Mavericks…

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Author : James Herbert

Publish date : 2024-04-05 16:56:16

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