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Golden State Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga will make his return from a severe right ankle sprain on Thursday night against the Sacramento Kings, league sources confirmed to ClutchPoints on Tuesday afternoon. He will face a minutes restriction as the team eases him back into action.
Kuminga, who has not played since Jan. 4 against the Memphis Grizzlies, has been ramping up his activities behind the scenes in anticipation of making his long-awaited return to the court. The Warriors, who have won 12 of their last 14 games, have been cautious with Kuminga during his recovery and have not wanted to rush him back by any means.
Over the last week, Kuminga practiced and competed in scrimmages with the team. Although he has still been dealing with some slight discomfort, Golden State remains confident in his health. The soreness he is dealing with has been labeled as “rust” needing to be worked off, sources said.
He will practice again with the team on Wednesday before being given the final green light for his return.
There was hope that Kuminga would be ready to return for the start of the Warriors' current seven-game homestand against the Detroit Pistons on Saturday. Having a few extra days to practice was key to the young forward's recovery process, which is why the team is anticipating him being ready for Thursday's game against the Kings.
Jonathan Kuminga's return to spark Warriors
Initially, it was believed that Kuminga would not miss more than a month's worth of action. Due to swelling, the Warriors were not aware of how serious this injury was at first, which is why his return has consistently been pushed back.
The 22-year-old forward will now return to the court during a pivotal time of the season.
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The Warriors are currently 37-28 after defeating the Portland Trail Blazers 130-120 on Monday night. After being outside the Western Conference play-in tournament picture, Golden State has moved up to the six-seed in the conference with 17 games remaining on their schedule.
Kuminga will come off the bench against the Kings on Thursday night after starting 10 of the 32 games he played before his ankle injury. Early in the season, he was the team's second-best offensive weapon outside of Stephen Curry, averaging 16.8 points and 5.0 rebounds per game while shooting 45.9 percent from the floor. In a contract year, Kuminga was in the midsts of his best season.
His role will now be drastically different down the stretch run of the season and heading into the playoffs with the Warriors due to the arrival of Jimmy Butler. The Dubs are 12-1 when Butler plays, and the team looks completely different than before Kuminga's injury. Head coach Steve Kerr made it abundantly clear that he does not want Kuminga's return to shake up the rotations all that much.
“It's a really difficult thing when you're playing really well and then you have a key guy coming back,” Kerr said after Saturday's 115-110 win over the Pistons. “I think the idea is to bring him along slowly. Play him in short bursts. Help him get his rhythm back. But, we've gotta keep playing Gui Santos. We've gotta keep playing the guys who are helping us win right now.
“Usually, this stuff has to kind of play out and so we'll hope that it plays out.”
Moses Moody, Gui Santos, Quinten Post, and Gary Payton II have all stepped up in larger roles off the bench and in the starting lineup with Kuminga sidelined. While he will still hold a vital role off the bench for Golden State, his minutes will be carefully monitored and the Warriors will not be going away from what has worked since the trade deadline.
The Warriors will provide an official injury update on Kuminga's status before Thursday's home game against Sacramento.
