Golden State’s season is fast approaching the finish line, the second straight season in which the Warriors are hovering near .500. Their record makes one thing painfully clear: Golden State must acquire a reliable second option behind Stephen Curry this offseason.
If last season’s second-round exit didn’t make it obvious, this season likely did. Besides Curry (26.9 PPG), the next-best player for the Warriors (34-31) is third-year forward Jonathan Kuminga, who has posted career-highs in points (16.1), rebounds (4.8) and assists (2.1) per game and earned an uptick in minutes over the previous season (20.8 to 26).
However, much of this production didn’t come until the middle of the season (after Jan. 5), when The Athletic broke the story that Kuminga had lost faith in head coach Steve Kerr and no longer believed he would allow him to reach his full potential.
Since the report, Kuminga has averaged 19.9 points in 30.1 minutes per game compared to the 12.8 points he averaged before the news.
Kuminga is a bright spot, but his inexperience shows on the defense, whether it’s in transition …
… or isolation plays that can swing the momentum of the game:
Kuminga should be a mainstay on the roster for years and has all the tools to be an elite defender. He could even develop into a viable No. 2 option on a championship team, but he needs more time to develop, something the Warriors don’t have much of with the current roster.
With Curry turning 36 on Thursday and 34-year-old Klay Thompson showing his age (averaging only 17 PPG), the clock is ticking for the Warriors to make a championship run with their best player.
Chris Paul’s contract is up after this season, the mercurial Draymond Green is 34 and the Warriors’ other “prime” players — Andrew Wiggins, Kevon Looney, Dario Saric and Gary Payton II — are too erratic on the court. That leaves the offensive burden to largely be carried by Curry.
Wiggins has shown flashes of his 2022 All-Star self this season, but he is unreliable. The 2022 NBA champion is averaging career lows in points (12.6), assists (1.7) and minutes (26.8), which forced Kerr to bring him off the bench for the first time in his career.
Although Payton II has been productive in his minutes this season, he has missed 35 of 65 games. Like Draymond, he isn’t a big threat on offense, shrinking the floor in an era where spacing is essential.
Additionally, the poor performances by Looney and Saric have prompted Kerr to take both bigs out of the rotation and give rookie Trayce Jackson-Davis more playing time.
Curry’s generational scoring ability and gravity have covered up much of the roster construction issues for years. Yet, Father Time is undefeated. The Warriors owe it to themselves — and especially to Curry — to get a stellar second scorer.
Capitalize while you still have one of the greatest players of all time on your side.
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