Fighting like hell to fend off the Houston Rockets for the final spot in the play-in tournament, the Golden State Warriors will have to make do on Wednesday without Jonathan Kuminga. The ascending third-year forward is listed as out against the Orlando Magic due to left knee soreness.
Steve Kerr told reporters during pregame media availability that Kuminga is sidelined in Orlando with knee tendinitis. Golden State's hope is that consecutive rest days will have him ready to play on Friday night against the Charlotte Hornets.
“Tendinitis in his knee,” Kerr said of Kuminga, per Anthony Slater of The Athletic. “Hopefully giving him the night and tomorrow off (has him ready for Friday in Charlotte).”
Kuminga's rise into a nightly impact player in January coincided with the Warriors' much-needed midseason renaissance. He's averaging 19.1 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.9 assists on solid 58.8% true shooting since becoming entrenched as a starter on January 27th, a two-month stretch over which Golden State has gone 18-11 while registering a +4.8 net rating, tied with the Oklahoma City Thunder and Dallas Mavericks for sixth-best in basketball.
Wednesday's game, the second half of a back-to-back for the Warriors following an impressive win over the shorthanded Miami Heat, marks just the second time Kuminga has been unavailable this season.
Moses Moody, Dario Saric poised for bigger roles with Jonathan Kuminga sidelined
Maybe Kuminga really will only miss the Warriors' tilt with the Magic, his knee issues proving a single-game blip on radar of their fraught run toward the end of the regular season. His absence is poised to loom especially against Orlando, too, with Jamahl Mosley's team sporting the blend of length, physicality and athleticism that routinely gives Golden State fits on both ends, but especially offensively.
Expect Kerr to extend Moses Moody's role while Kuminga is out. A third-year lottery pick just like Kuminga, Moody has recently been relegated to the final player in a 10-man rotation, his playing time varying from nonexistent to minimal on a game-by-game basis. He's not the relentless downhill penetrator, explosive finisher or isolation scorer Kuminga is, but can make his presence felt under additional playing time regardless with spot-up three-point shooting and a proclivity for doing the two-way dirty work that Kuminga sometimes avoids.
Dario Saric could be the other main beneficiary of Kuminga's status. Sent to the end of the bench in early March after Kerr committed to that 10-man rotation, the veteran big man's ability to stretch the floor, attack close-outs from slow-footed interior players and keep the ball moving offensively has made him a snug fit in Golden State's system. But Saric has been a liability on defense all season, especially when playing center. If he sees more action in Orlando or beyond, it will surely come next to Draymond Green or Trayce Jackson-Davis up front.
Jackson-Davis is starting in Kuminga's place against the Magic, opening next to Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins and Green. While playing a pair of non-shooters up front could be especially debilitating offensively facing an elite defense like Orlando's, putting Thompson next to Curry should help unlock the Dubs' halfcourt offense without the imminent threat Kuminga provides putting pressure on the rim. Jackson-Davis can compensate for that lack of downhill driving as a rim-roller and dunker-spot lurker, too.
Golden State enters Wednesday's action just a game up on the surging Rockets for 10th-place in the Western Conference. Needless to say, the Warriors need Kuminga back back as soon as possible.
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