Maybe Jonathan Kuminga really isn't privy to Stephen A. Smith's pointed criticism of his work ethic on Tuesday's edition of First Take. It's late August, after all, the last leg of the offseason before the uber-talented forward begins his sophomore campaign with the Golden State Warriors. Perhaps Kuminga is taking this valuable time to unplug from the internet, looking within him before his team begins an arduous title defense.

On the other hand, it sure seems like Kuminga's Instagram story on Wednesday of a post-workout photo—including  a caption about “hard work beating talent”—was a thinly veiled response to ESPN's preeminent on-camera loudmouth.

Jonathan Kuminga, Warriors
h/t u/WorkerWild, reddit

Smith took a shot at the 19-year-old on Tuesday, speculating that he was “shortchanging” Stephen Curry and the Warriors based on what he's supposedly heard about Kuminga's “attitude” and “level of focus.”

To be fair to Smith, he's not the first to publicly question Kuminga's commitment to getting better and the game overall.

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Those concerns dogged him during his time with G-League Ignite and potentially contributed to him falling out of the top-five in the 2021 draft. Warriors fans have no doubt heard whispers about Kuminga's affinity for the life of fame, and Draymond Green even called out his lackadaisical approach in his first game at Las Vegas Summer League. The precocious professionalism of fellow second-year wing Moses Moody only makes those murmurs louder.

But Kuminga will have a golden opportunity to silence that talk in 2022-23, poised for a bigger role after Golden State lost Otto Porter and Nemanja Bjelica in free agency. At 6'7, 225 pounds with incredible explosiveness, hard-charging off-dribble ability and budding one-on-one defensive chops, there's a world in which Kuminga becomes a true X-factor for the reigning champions this season, starting games on the bench but closing lots of them alongside Green up front in winning time.

Would that silence his doubters? Maybe not, but would definitely go a long way toward Kuminga cementing himself as a future star in Golden State.

[h/t u/WorkerWild, reddit]