Warriors' Draymond Green sets 'All-Star' or bust expectations for Jonathan Kuminga in 2024-25

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Draymond Green definitely isn’t stopping the Jonathan Kuminga hype train. Ahead of his all-important fourth NBA season, the Golden State Warriors’ veteran leader has set sky-high individual expectations for Kuminga, leaving him ample room to disappoint.

"Anything less than an All-Star is a failure for him,” Green said of Kuminga on the latest edition of “Dubs Talk” with NBC Sports Bay Area’s Kerith Burke.

How can Kuminga reach that lofty bar in an absolutely loaded Western Conference? It’s simple enough to Green.

"Score the basketball," he told Burke of Kuminga. "[He] has to be a great scorer. He needs to be above 20 points per game, six [to] seven rebounds a night, and we need to win. Especially if you want to become a first-time All-Star. We know what he's capable of and we believe in him.”

Jonathan Kuminga’s uncertain role with Warriors as regular season dawns

There’s no doubt that Kuminga took significant strides over the offseason. Coming off a breakout campaign that sometimes still left Steve Kerr and Golden State’s coaching staff wanting, the 22-year-old has never looked more confident or comfortable with the ball in his hands—key to Kuminga’s desire to play small forward, which Green also sees as his best position.

The Dubs barely played Kuminga on the perimeter in 2023-24, especially after the season’s first few weeks. Their midseason turnaround came with him playing the four next to Green and Andrew Wiggins in small-ball lineups, exploiting the edge in burst and explosiveness Kuminga owns over the vast majority of forwards while waiting for his jumper, handle and decision-making to improve.

Kerr has spoken openly about using the preseason to deduce whether Kuminga is ready for a shift to the three. Whether that’s what’s best for Golden State, which goes legitimately 12-deep with viable rotation players, remains to be seen. What’s not are the improvements Kuminga has made in hopes of playing that role this season and going forward.

Splashing smooth hang-dribble threes and scoring through Anthony Davis in pick-and-roll surely gives Kerr more confidence Kuminga is ready to play small forward.

He’s been better playing within flow of the Warriors’ offense, too, making quick decisions—beginning to embrace “.5 basketball,” as it’s called—to dribble, pass or shoot. These aren’t plays Kuminga was making regularly last season.

It’s easy to see what Green does in Kuminga after watching the clips above. The skill is clearly catching up to his otherworldly athleticism, providing glimpses of the All-Star future his natural tools have suggested since high school.

But processing speed matters much more offensively for playmakers than finishers, and Kuminga’s is still developing. That ongoing growth has reared its head on defense during preseason action, too, where his penchant for missing off-ball assignments continues to frustrate Kerr.

Don’t forget that context matters for Kuminga just as much as any other player in the league, either. His All-Star case could fall largely out of his hands.

If Kuminga really starts at the three, will Golden State have enough halfcourt spacing for him to consistently crease the paint? Will he get enough touches to rack up the box-score numbers needed for All-Star consideration if Andrew Wiggins is the Dubs’ No. 2 scorer behind Stephen Curry? There’s still no guarantee Kuminga is starting; he surely won’t live up to Green’s expectation as a sixth or seventh man. The West has never been stronger, with far more proven players than Kuminga bound to be left off the 12-man All-Star roster.

Maybe most significant among those external elements? Golden State’s all-around success, and the team won’t be sacrificing it to accommodate Kuminga’s progress. He needs to force his way into the status as an indispensable impact player for the Warriors, helping them level up as contenders in the season’s early going just to get in the broader conversation for All-Star honors.

No one represents a bigger swing factor for the Dubs this season than Kuminga. As long as he consistently effects winning, missing out on the All-Star game definitely won’t be a failure—Green’s outsized expectations and clear motivational tactics be damned.

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