On Steve Kerr giving the ‘thumbs up’ to Jonathan Kuminga’s rotation spot

The relationship may be “fractured beyond repair,” but the professionalism has clearly been maintained.

At the 3:48 mark of the first quarter of the Golden State Warriors’ game against the Dallas Mavericks, the Amazon Prime broadcast cut toward Steve Kerr calling a play for Jonathan Kuminga, called “Thumb up.” Simply put, the play is a high pick-and-roll for the ball handler, with the name Kerr calls out playing the role of the screener. In this instance, Kerr calling out “Thumb up JK” means that he wants Kuminga to set the screen for Brandin Podziemski, with everyone else spreading the floor to create as much room as possible for the two-man action.

The lack of weak-side help in the form of “tagging” is apparent, with Will Richard making himself a threat to catch a potential kick-out. Kuminga gets all the way to the rim after Podziemski dishes him the pocket pass, and is fouled in the process of making the layup.

While Kuminga played nine minutes and 28 seconds on the floor due to suffering what was deemed as a left ankle sprain and left knee soreness, the limited minutes he played turned out to be highly impactful. The Warriors outscored the Mavericks by a total of 18 points, with an offensive rating of 130.4 and a defensive rating of 54.5 that combined for a net rating figure of plus-75.9.

With Butler out of the rotation for obvious reasons, Kerr inserted Kuminga into the role that Butler played: that of an advantage creator in isolation and pick-and-roll whose ability to pick at mismatches allowed the Warriors to create efficient offense off of a defense being placed on a blender due to the initial advantage.

Kuminga may very well never replicate the kind of consistent all-around play that Butler was able to provide for the Warriors. But left with no choice in terms of which secondary scorer and advantage creator to pair with Steph Curry, Kerr deemed it necessary to reintroduce the embattled Kuminga into the rotation. Not only has Kuminga played two consecutive games of positive hoops — he has somewhat increased his value to the team, and by extension, his value to potential suitors who may be looking for a player profile that Kuminga fits.

That was probably the driving reason behind Kuminga being sidelined after tweaking his ankle and knee, an effort to maintain his health and fitness to prevent the sudden drop in value that a more serious injury would’ve brought. Kuminga reportedly receiving an MRI could be cause for concern, but in all likelihood it may be a precaution to rule out a more serious injury. But all indications have pointed toward Kuminga’s injury not being especially debilitating.

However, while Kuminga may continue this stretch of inspired play, it remains paramount that the Warriors move his contract, if only to resolve a situation that has outlived its welcome. Kuminga and the Warriors aren’t a fit long-term — that much is clear. For all parties to move on, the separation must be finalized.

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