Gilbert Arenas thinks Jonathan Kuminga will be motivated to drop his best performance against Steve Kerr, Warriors
Though Jonathan Kuminga has consistently shown flashes of his immense upside during his limited impurities with the Golden State Warriors, head coach Steve Kerr chose not to expand his role, leaving many to wonder why the 23-year-old forward repeatedly got DNPs against his name.
However, following his midseason trade to the Atlanta Hawks, Kuminga is finally getting the platform to showcase his abilities. And after witnessing him play with extreme confidence, Gilbert Arenas has boldly warned coach Kerr about just how motivated Kuminga would be to prove his worth when the Hawks play the Warriors on March 21st.
The Warriors find themselves extremely short-handed. With Jimmy Butler ruled out of the season and Steph Curry currently sidelined due to a knee injury, the team is struggling to hold onto its spot in the Play-In seeds. And that is just where Gilf eels Kuminga can do the most damage by playing at a high rate and further derailing the Warriors’ trajectory by securing a win over them.
Speaking on his show, Arenas further explained that Kerr may now find himself in an awkward position tactically. Since the Warriors never treated Kuminga as a primary offensive threat earlier, adjusting defensive schemes specifically to stop him could contradict Kerr’s earlier evaluation.
Put simply, in Arenas’ view, if Kerr derives special schemes for Kuminga to slow him down, that shows how wrong he was about the young forward, and if he doesn’t, there is no way the Warriors can stop Kuminga from making his mark against them.
“It is going to bite you moving forward. He’s so young, he’s so talented, and he’s going to get better. He’s only going to use what you did against him as fuel,” Arenas said. “Steve Kerr, I’m telling you as a hooper, don’t double. Nah! Whoever was playing in front of him, check up. He’s gonna barbeque the s–t. He’s going to get all the shots. If you double, you look weak as a coach. You said he was worth nothing, don’t start, coming out and doubling a player whois worth nothing.”
If Kuminga's 27-point debut for Atlanta wasn’t convincing enough, he quickly followed it up with another strong outing, recording 17 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field along with nine rebounds against the Washington Wizards to lead the Hawks to another dominant victory.
Performances like these underline Kuminga’s determination to seize every opportunity moving forward, and the upcoming clash against Golden State could serve as the perfect moment for him to show exactly what his true ceiling actually is.
With so many analysts and former players repeatedly calling Kerr out for arrogantly not sending Kuminga out on the court when he had the option, who knows? Kerr’s reputation could further take a hit if Kuminga drops his best performance of the season against him.