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SAN FRANCISCO – Having watched from the sidelines for the past two months while the Warriors added Jimmy Butler and instantly transformed into a legitimate contender in the NBA’s Western Conference, Jonathan Kuminga’s biggest concern coming back Thursday was not to mess things up.
Butler almost laughed at that idea.
“You can’t mess [anything] up whenever everybody wants everybody to be great,” Butler said after Golden State’s 130-104 win against the Sacramento Kings at Chase Center. “We don’t got no selfish people on this team. I’m going to come in there and tell him, ‘Be you, be you, be you.’
“He’s here and he’s been doing him for some time now, and I want [him] to be [him] more than anybody. You come in and play basketball the way you know how. I myself and everybody else will make sure that we fit your game.”
Playing for the first time since suffering a serious ankle injury against the Memphis Grizzlies on Jan. 4, Kuminga had a solid enough game and a few times flashed some of the athleticism that has kept him a prized prospect in Golden State despite multiple attempts by opponents to trade for him.
Welcome back, JK 😤 pic.twitter.com/orHlyskYM7
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) March 14, 2025
Kuminga logged nearly 20 minutes off the bench, scoring 18 points (second on the Warriors behind Draymond Green’s 23) while connecting on seven of his 10 shot attempts. Kuminga was in attack mode almost from the jump and maintained that energy throughout the night.
“I thought he played really hard, and what you notice is just the different dimension he gives us with his explosion to the rim,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “The way teams are playing Steph [Curry], everybody now is just top-locking him. It makes sense because you’re trying to take away Steph, but then you don’t have help in certain areas.
“So if you have a guy like JK who can attack and score at the rim, it’s a huge help. Just really happy for him. He’s put a lot of work in … and it took him quite a while to get to this point. There was a lot of hard work that went into…
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Publish date : 2025-03-13 23:49:00
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