-
Kendra Andrews, ESPNOct 29, 2024, 09:01 PM ET
SAN FRANCISCO — Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr used the 24 hours leading up to Tuesday night’s game against the New Orleans Pelicans trying to figure out a new starting lineup.
He’d be without two starters — Stephen Curry and Andrew Wiggins. But the changes he made weren’t to just replace them.
The biggest adjustment he made was moving Jonathan Kuminga to the bench and replacing him in the starting lineup with Moses Moody.
“Without Steph and Wiggs, I didn’t want to start Trayce [Jackson-Davis], Draymond [Green] and JK,” Kerr said after a 124-106 win. “I wanted a little more spacing. I knew it would be a JK game. I knew he would play a lot … this is just about combinations and getting a bit more spacing on the floor to start.
“All it is, is shuffling the lineup to try to get the right five-man grouping out there.”
Kerr said he explained this to Kuminga before the game. Kuminga said he received a text from his coach about the decision, but the two did not have an extended conversation.
“It wasn’t my decision. I got a text, this is how it’s going to go, this is who it’s going to be, and I went with it,” Kuminga said. “What am I supposed to do … ask why am I not starting? This is the decision of the coach, and we will follow what he’s going to do.”
He continued: “At the end of the day, I’m still a professional. I’m going to do what I’ve got to do.”
Editor’s Picks
Kuminga finished with 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting, with 3 assists, 2 steals and 1 block in a season-high 28 minutes.
“I thought JK was great,” Kerr said. “We’re going to need him, obviously. He is our most athletic player. He’s got great size. There are games like tonight where we have to have him and others where maybe things aren’t going his way. That’s OK.”
Despite the combination changes, Kuminga said he felt he was still playing at small forward, rather than power forward. He also said he didn’t think he played any differently than he did in his first three games of the season, in which he averaged eight points on 33.3% shooting.
“I did the same thing [that I did] in game two, game three, I’m still attacking the rim and other things but tonight they went in, so it looked good,” Kuminga said. “Today, if it doesn’t go in it looks like I’m doing something else. My gift and my nature is to attack the rim as much as I can, and today things just went in.”
Removing Kuminga from the starting lineup is intriguing for a player in his fourth season after he and team have yet to complete a contract extension, though team officials have discussed setting him up to take the next step.
It’s unclear if Kuminga will continue to come off the bench against the Pelicans again Wednesday, or until Curry, Wiggins and rotational player De’Anthony Melton return from their injuries.
Kerr started Brandin Podziemski, Buddy Hield, Moody, Green and Jackson-Davis on Tuesday and used a 10-man rotation. Sources told ESPN the Warriors want to use the first 30 games to shorten the rotation and see which players create separation to earn minutes. The early season injuries the team has faced has made it more challenging.
“This is about winning,” Kerr said. “This is a deep team. The thing I’ve asked all of these guys to do is just commit. And every game is going to be different.”
