After missing over two months with a severely sprained ankle, Jonathan Kuminga is expected to return to the court on Thursday against Sacramento, head coach Steve Kerr confirmed on his 95.7 The Game radio hit.
“Assuming he doesn’t have any setbacks in the next couple of days, he should be back,” Kerr said.
The news was first reported by The Athletic.
Kuminga, 22, is averaging a career-high 16.8 points and five rebounds per game this season. He suffered a Grade 3 ankle sprain on Jan. 4 and has the missed 31 consecutive games since. He has been participating in full-contact scrimmages over the past couple weeks, ramping up in what has been a long, difficult recovery process.
The Warriors plan to bring Kuminga off the bench and ease him into a rotation that is now humming with Jimmy Butler, the six-time All-Star acquired at the trade deadline while Kuminga was sidelined. Golden State is 12-1 with Butler in the lineup, surging from outside the play-in to the sixth seed.
Kerr has said that Butler is “the perfect guy for JK to emulate” because of his decision-making chops and ability to draw fouls. Multiple players, including the former Heat star, has expressed excitement about bringing Kuminga back into the fold.
“I think it’s going to be easy,” Butler said. “Hella athletic. Can shoot it, can score in a multitude in a multiple ways. And can guard. Can definitely guard. So I think he’s going to come back and do what he’s doing. My job is to just make it easier on him. So, come on back and help us get some dubs.”
Reintegrating Kuminga back into the lineup projects to be the most interesting — and possibly delicate — dynamic for the Warriors’ last 17 games. Kuminga was thriving in a featured role before his injury, consistently playing upwards of 30 minutes and often having the ball in his hands as a playmaker. He racked up double-digit points in 17 straight games — including three 30-point games — while making a consistent impact defensively and on the boards.
Kerr has repeatedly called the run-up to Kuminga’s ankle sprain the best stretch of his NBA career. Now, he’ll have to acclimate himself into a different environment. Kerr has said he has had multiple conversations with the fourth-year wing recently about what he expects from him.
“We’re going to run through Jimmy Butler, and we’re going to run through Steph Curry,” Kerr said on 95.7 The Game. “So what that requires of JK is to be settling into a role to support those guys and that’s slightly different and that’s just something that he has to adapt to.”
As impressive as the Warriors have been since the All-Star break, they’ll need the best version of Kuminga to impact winning in order to vault into true title contention with Oklahoma City, Boston and Cleveland.
One possible complicating factor is Kuminga’s contract status; because he and the team failed to reach an agreement on a contract extension before the season began, he’s set to become a restricted free agent this summer. That means the Warriors will have the ability to match any offer sheet he may receive or — the more unlikely option — let him walk.
“The main thing I want for JK is to not press when he comes back,” Kerr said this month. “It’s not an easy spot to come back into where team’s rolling, contract stuff this summer. He’s going to have a lot on his mind. I want to make things as smooth and easy as possible. I want him to understand that it’s not going to happen right away. He was playing the best basketball of his career before the injury, and it’s not going to happen the first night where he’s going to get back to that level. It will take a little time.”
