Kuminga is officially a wolf

[Phenom]

By any means? I hope not. Waiving and stretching Green while signing Kuminga will put us $7.6 under the 2nd apron. We can sign two players to one-year vet minimum deals to fill out the roster. If Kuminga moves on after this season we’d be $13.7M under this season’s 2nd apron assuming Donte signs a new deal starting at his current salary. But the Wolves could let Donte go and free up another $12.5M from his contract or start him at a lower salary on a new deal. Obviously, it’s better not to have dead money on the books. But taking back a player with a guaranteed contract for 2-3 years who won’t play isn’t much different from dead money. That sort of player provides no on-court value and has minimal market value as a trade asset. I’d still rather have a player at $5M for three years than dead money at that amount, but the difference isn’t substantial in my view unless the player is a rotation-worthy player. And that’s the rub. I don’t see us getting a rotation-worth player in exchange for Josh Green without adding TSJ or Jaylen Clark and that’s something I probably wouldn’t do, depending of course on the player we can get.

Man I sure hope we don't have to revisit this in a year and lament that dead money. I feel like that's an oversight that many here would roast TC for.

Eventually (sooner than later)... the Wolves lack of assets is going to be a very real problem. It's unfortunate that the Wolves are going all in with two other teams that are clearly better than them in their own conference.

But I'm still ok with it. The first 30+ years of my Wolves fandom included A LOT of losing. More losing than literally any other franchise. So I'll adjust accordingly when the cupboards are bare and Edwards is traded for prospects. We've been there before.

Until then... I'll enjoy watching the squad win more than they lose and hopefully make another playoff run. Like Tim Connelly, we'll deal with the aftermath later...

... well actually. WE'LL (fans) deal with the aftermath. Tim Connelly will simply move on to his next job.

I'm good with where the team is now. Its been very enjoyable to have such a competitive team. But I can already see it now that next offseason, when everyone has their hopes and dreams of adding a player, and the team is a million short of the free agent asking price or salary match for a trade, we look at that dead money and have some revisionist history about how we handled Josh Green.

[FNG]

By any means? I hope not. Waiving and stretching Green while signing Kuminga will put us $7.6 under the 2nd apron. We can sign two players to one-year vet minimum deals to fill out the roster. If Kuminga moves on after this season we’d be $13.7M under this season’s 2nd apron assuming Donte signs a new deal starting at his current salary. But the Wolves could let Donte go and free up another $12.5M from his contract or start him at a lower salary on a new deal. Obviously, it’s better not to have dead money on the books. But taking back a player with a guaranteed contract for 2-3 years who won’t play isn’t much different from dead money. That sort of player provides no on-court value and has minimal market value as a trade asset. I’d still rather have a player at $5M for three years than dead money at that amount, but the difference isn’t substantial in my view unless the player is a rotation-worthy player. And that’s the rub. I don’t see us getting a rotation-worth player in exchange for Josh Green without adding TSJ or Jaylen Clark and that’s something I probably wouldn’t do, depending of course on the player we can get.

Man I sure hope we don't have to revisit this in a year and lament that dead money. I feel like that's an oversight that many here would roast TC for.

Eventually (sooner than later)... the Wolves lack of assets is going to be a very real problem. It's unfortunate that the Wolves are going all in with two other teams that are clearly better than them in their own conference.

But I'm still ok with it. The first 30+ years of my Wolves fandom included A LOT of losing. More losing than literally any other franchise. So I'll adjust accordingly when the cupboards are bare and Edwards is traded for prospects. We've been there before.

Until then... I'll enjoy watching the squad win more than they lose and hopefully make another playoff run. Like Tim Connelly, we'll deal with the aftermath later...

... well actually. WE'LL (fans) deal with the aftermath. Tim Connelly will simply move on to his next job.

Yes, having a club that now sometimes wins playoff series is a very pleasant development after years of futility. But I also have a rose-colored glasses viewpoint when it comes to our lack of assets...albeit with a few big IF's.

But...IF the Ball and Kuminga acquisitions turn out positively, and IF we find a way to somehow retain JK after a successful season, the Wolves might have arguably the best young core in the Association. When Rudy retires in 2 years at the end of his contract, the Wolves will have an entire starting lineup 28 or younger supplemented with 4 serviceable bench players (Ayo, TJ, Clark and Bones) also 28 or younger...plus Donte. And we will still have first round picks every other year to hopefully find a diamond in the rough. It will be a challenge for TC to keep the band together, but if he can, we may have a roster that requires very little tweaking. I know...a lot of IFs.

More likely JK is gone after one season and TC once again has to scramble to find a decent option at PF. That's where the lack of tradable assets could be a problem.

[rapsuperstar31]

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/754189 ... -ios-share

As Jonathan Kuminga mulled over where his basketball journey would take him next, he got a call from Anthony Edwards that put the Minnesota Timberwolves front and center in his mind.

Edwards and Kuminga are kindred basketball spirits, in a way. Two high-flyers who like to put the ball in the basket and delight in breaking down a defender off the dribble with the shot clock winding down. But what really resonated with Kuminga about the conversation, his agent, Aaron Turner, said, was that Edwards didn’t talk about scoring at all.

“Ant was super active in the recruitment of him,” Turner told The Athletic. “One thing he did was focus his message on, we’re gonna really guard here. Everybody looked at the offensive end. JK and I looked more at the defensive end.”

Turner is well aware of the perception surrounding his client. Kuminga spent his first four-and-a-half seasons with the Golden State Warriors, and his relationship with coach Steve Kerr grew contentious before he was traded to the Atlanta Hawks in February. Some painted Kuminga as a player more concerned with becoming a featured scorer than with fitting in with Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and the championship-chasing Warriors.

Kuminga’s decision to turn down significantly more money from the Los Angeles Lakers, Portland Trail Blazers and Chicago Bulls this week in favor of a two-year, $12 million offer from the Timberwolves could help change that view of him as a single-minded player. The deal has a player option for 2027-28, giving Kuminga the flexibility to re-enter the market next summer if bigger deals become available. But Turner said that money did not play a role in Kuminga’s decision this time around.

“We sat at the gym this week, and I asked him, what’s the best basketball situation?” Turner said. “He said Minnesota. Well, nothing else matters. Why would you go anywhere else?”

It wasn’t just Edwards who made an impression on Kuminga. He had dinner in Miami with team president of basketball operations Tim Connelly, who didn’t mince words about what the Wolves could give Kuminga and what they would ask of him as well. Owner Alex Rodriguez connected with him to show him that he would have backing in Minnesota at the highest levels. LaMelo Ball and Jaden McDaniels also reached out, telling him how much they wanted him on the team. And coach Chris Finch had several long conversations with Kuminga about the team’s culture of accountability.

“It was such a solid respect factor from top to bottom,” Turner said.

The Wolves all brought up how Kuminga averaged 20.8 points per game on 54 percent shooting in their 2025 playoff matchup against Golden State. They told him how much they needed his size and athleticism after trading Julius Randle and Naz Reid in the offseason. After the way things ended for Kuminga with the Warriors, and Atlanta’s decision not to exercise his $24 million contract option when the season ended, the love Minnesota showed for Kuminga won him over.

“This is your chance to go to a place you can feel believed in,” Turner said he told Kuminga. “They’re going to encourage you. They’re going to push you, but they’re not going to run away from you.”

Turner has a long relationship with Connelly and Wolves general manager Matt Lloyd. Minnesota started the recruitment with only the $3.6 million veteran minimum salary to offer, but Turner urged Connelly and Lloyd to free up more money to get a real shot at landing Kuminga for their vacant power forward position. When new controlling owner Marc Stad told Connelly that he had the green light to do whatever it took to get up to the $6 million taxpayer mid-level exception, the door opened in earnest, and Edwards kicked it down.

Edwards, the charismatic face of the franchise, has upped his vocal leadership this summer, including when he helped organize a team trip to Paris to work out in Rudy Gobert’s hometown. Edwards played for Kerr at the Paris Olympics, so he could relate to Kuminga when he talked about what didn’t work for him with the Warriors. Edwards referred back to the playoff series often in their conversations, telling Kuminga the Wolves had no answer for him on either end of the floor.

“Ant can relate to JK in a way very few, if any, in the world can,” Turner said. “Him saying, ‘I know what you can do’ meant a lot.”

Edwards knew the Timberwolves’ frontcourt was thin up after this summer’s moves, and he also knew that for Kuminga to get the most of his experience in Minnesota, he would have to come in with bigger priorities than just putting the ball in the basket.

Kuminga looked at the Wolves roster and saw Gobert, the four-time Defensive Player of the Year, McDaniels, one of the best perimeter defenders in the league, and Edwards, who can be a bulldog when he locks in on that end. He envisions tag-teaming with McDaniels in guarding the opponent’s best scorers, pressuring the ball, bolstering the team’s rebounding and creating turnovers for transition opportunities.

“Ant did a great job of painting a picture of we’re going to be nasty defensively, and we’re going to share the ball,” Turner said.

And after so much concentration on Kuminga’s spot in the offensive pecking order in Golden State, Turner said Kuminga just wants to be a part of an unselfish offense that moves the ball and gets everyone involved.

“He made this decision because of the defensive versatility of this team,” Turner said. “Offense is secondary to what he’s thinking about. It’s going to be whatever we gotta do to win that night. Nobody is going to care about stats or shots.”

For now, those are all just words that sound great. What really matters is what happens when the team hits the floor in October. But if Kuminga backs up his agent’s words with action, the team’s ceiling will be raised by a considerable margin.

Turner and Kuminga have faced withering criticism in some corners for how they handled his contracts over the last couple of years. In making this move to Minnesota, Turner believes it will put his client in a position of strength moving forward. If he comes to the Timberwolves and shows that he can impact winning by bringing intangibles to the table along with his overwhelming athleticism, the money will come.

The hope, Turner said, is that this is the start of a long relationship with the Wolves. But even if this is a shorter-term arrangement, both sides still have so much to gain.

“The best thing he can do for himself is focus on the moment,” Turner said. “If everybody guards and nobody cares about stats and it’s all about the team and winning, it’s going to be good.”

[Monster]

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/754189 ... -ios-share

As Jonathan Kuminga mulled over where his basketball journey would take him next, he got a call from Anthony Edwards that put the Minnesota Timberwolves front and center in his mind.

Edwards and Kuminga are kindred basketball spirits, in a way. Two high-flyers who like to put the ball in the basket and delight in breaking down a defender off the dribble with the shot clock winding down. But what really resonated with Kuminga about the conversation, his agent, Aaron Turner, said, was that Edwards didn’t talk about scoring at all.

“Ant was super active in the recruitment of him,” Turner told The Athletic. “One thing he did was focus his message on, we’re gonna really guard here. Everybody looked at the offensive end. JK and I looked more at the defensive end.”

Turner is well aware of the perception surrounding his client. Kuminga spent his first four-and-a-half seasons with the Golden State Warriors, and his relationship with coach Steve Kerr grew contentious before he was traded to the Atlanta Hawks in February. Some painted Kuminga as a player more concerned with becoming a featured scorer than with fitting in with Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and the championship-chasing Warriors.

Kuminga’s decision to turn down significantly more money from the Los Angeles Lakers, Portland Trail Blazers and Chicago Bulls this week in favor of a two-year, $12 million offer from the Timberwolves could help change that view of him as a single-minded player. The deal has a player option for 2027-28, giving Kuminga the flexibility to re-enter the market next summer if bigger deals become available. But Turner said that money did not play a role in Kuminga’s decision this time around.

“We sat at the gym this week, and I asked him, what’s the best basketball situation?” Turner said. “He said Minnesota. Well, nothing else matters. Why would you go anywhere else?”

It wasn’t just Edwards who made an impression on Kuminga. He had dinner in Miami with team president of basketball operations Tim Connelly, who didn’t mince words about what the Wolves could give Kuminga and what they would ask of him as well. Owner Alex Rodriguez connected with him to show him that he would have backing in Minnesota at the highest levels. LaMelo Ball and Jaden McDaniels also reached out, telling him how much they wanted him on the team. And coach Chris Finch had several long conversations with Kuminga about the team’s culture of accountability.

“It was such a solid respect factor from top to bottom,” Turner said.

The Wolves all brought up how Kuminga averaged 20.8 points per game on 54 percent shooting in their 2025 playoff matchup against Golden State. They told him how much they needed his size and athleticism after trading Julius Randle and Naz Reid in the offseason. After the way things ended for Kuminga with the Warriors, and Atlanta’s decision not to exercise his $24 million contract option when the season ended, the love Minnesota showed for Kuminga won him over.

“This is your chance to go to a place you can feel believed in,” Turner said he told Kuminga. “They’re going to encourage you. They’re going to push you, but they’re not going to run away from you.”

Turner has a long relationship with Connelly and Wolves general manager Matt Lloyd. Minnesota started the recruitment with only the $3.6 million veteran minimum salary to offer, but Turner urged Connelly and Lloyd to free up more money to get a real shot at landing Kuminga for their vacant power forward position. When new controlling owner Marc Stad told Connelly that he had the green light to do whatever it took to get up to the $6 million taxpayer mid-level exception, the door opened in earnest, and Edwards kicked it down.

Edwards, the charismatic face of the franchise, has upped his vocal leadership this summer, including when he helped organize a team trip to Paris to work out in Rudy Gobert’s hometown. Edwards played for Kerr at the Paris Olympics, so he could relate to Kuminga when he talked about what didn’t work for him with the Warriors. Edwards referred back to the playoff series often in their conversations, telling Kuminga the Wolves had no answer for him on either end of the floor.

“Ant can relate to JK in a way very few, if any, in the world can,” Turner said. “Him saying, ‘I know what you can do’ meant a lot.”

Edwards knew the Timberwolves’ frontcourt was thin up after this summer’s moves, and he also knew that for Kuminga to get the most of his experience in Minnesota, he would have to come in with bigger priorities than just putting the ball in the basket.

Kuminga looked at the Wolves roster and saw Gobert, the four-time Defensive Player of the Year, McDaniels, one of the best perimeter defenders in the league, and Edwards, who can be a bulldog when he locks in on that end. He envisions tag-teaming with McDaniels in guarding the opponent’s best scorers, pressuring the ball, bolstering the team’s rebounding and creating turnovers for transition opportunities.

“Ant did a great job of painting a picture of we’re going to be nasty defensively, and we’re going to share the ball,” Turner said.

And after so much concentration on Kuminga’s spot in the offensive pecking order in Golden State, Turner said Kuminga just wants to be a part of an unselfish offense that moves the ball and gets everyone involved.

“He made this decision because of the defensive versatility of this team,” Turner said. “Offense is secondary to what he’s thinking about. It’s going to be whatever we gotta do to win that night. Nobody is going to care about stats or shots.”

For now, those are all just words that sound great. What really matters is what happens when the team hits the floor in October. But if Kuminga backs up his agent’s words with action, the team’s ceiling will be raised by a considerable margin.

Turner and Kuminga have faced withering criticism in some corners for how they handled his contracts over the last couple of years. In making this move to Minnesota, Turner believes it will put his client in a position of strength moving forward. If he comes to the Timberwolves and shows that he can impact winning by bringing intangibles to the table along with his overwhelming athleticism, the money will come.

The hope, Turner said, is that this is the start of a long relationship with the Wolves. But even if this is a shorter-term arrangement, both sides still have so much to gain.

“The best thing he can do for himself is focus on the moment,” Turner said. “If everybody guards and nobody cares about stats and it’s all about the team and winning, it’s going to be good.”

For someone like me that is in on the Kuminga gamble but still has quite a bit of skepticism this was an encouraging read.

I'll say that from afar it seemed like for whatever reason Kuminga and GS just weren't working. People say Kuminga and his agent fumbled the bag. Yes they wanted the most money they could get but why sign long term in a place that didn't seem to really work for either you or the team and it clearly didn't get better last year so he was traded. Atlanta didn't put a high priority on him but then declining his 25 million option doesn't mean all that much. They were able to "spend" that money to add multiple useful players in the off-season. They likely didn't see anything more than a bench role and Kuminga was killed looking for more than that. Were there earlier deals they turned down for more money? What was the role with those teams? I'd guess that Kuminga and his agent unless they are as dumb as some people think had an inkling there would be some really good options possibly to start on good teams. He had a couple good options in that way one of them was a decent paycheck playing for the Lakers a young talented team or the Wolves team that's also young but with a more proven core and culture (this is bizarre). Hell ownership of the Wolves is more settled! Anyway I'm still skeptical to some extent but I do feel some reasonable hope this will work out and the bar doesn't have to be wildly high for Kuminga to clear to make this a success.

[Q-is-here]

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/754189 ... -ios-share

As Jonathan Kuminga mulled over where his basketball journey would take him next, he got a call from Anthony Edwards that put the Minnesota Timberwolves front and center in his mind.

Edwards and Kuminga are kindred basketball spirits, in a way. Two high-flyers who like to put the ball in the basket and delight in breaking down a defender off the dribble with the shot clock winding down. But what really resonated with Kuminga about the conversation, his agent, Aaron Turner, said, was that Edwards didn’t talk about scoring at all.

“Ant was super active in the recruitment of him,” Turner told The Athletic. “One thing he did was focus his message on, we’re gonna really guard here. Everybody looked at the offensive end. JK and I looked more at the defensive end.”

Turner is well aware of the perception surrounding his client. Kuminga spent his first four-and-a-half seasons with the Golden State Warriors, and his relationship with coach Steve Kerr grew contentious before he was traded to the Atlanta Hawks in February. Some painted Kuminga as a player more concerned with becoming a featured scorer than with fitting in with Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and the championship-chasing Warriors.

Kuminga’s decision to turn down significantly more money from the Los Angeles Lakers, Portland Trail Blazers and Chicago Bulls this week in favor of a two-year, $12 million offer from the Timberwolves could help change that view of him as a single-minded player. The deal has a player option for 2027-28, giving Kuminga the flexibility to re-enter the market next summer if bigger deals become available. But Turner said that money did not play a role in Kuminga’s decision this time around.

“We sat at the gym this week, and I asked him, what’s the best basketball situation?” Turner said. “He said Minnesota. Well, nothing else matters. Why would you go anywhere else?”

It wasn’t just Edwards who made an impression on Kuminga. He had dinner in Miami with team president of basketball operations Tim Connelly, who didn’t mince words about what the Wolves could give Kuminga and what they would ask of him as well. Owner Alex Rodriguez connected with him to show him that he would have backing in Minnesota at the highest levels. LaMelo Ball and Jaden McDaniels also reached out, telling him how much they wanted him on the team. And coach Chris Finch had several long conversations with Kuminga about the team’s culture of accountability.

“It was such a solid respect factor from top to bottom,” Turner said.

The Wolves all brought up how Kuminga averaged 20.8 points per game on 54 percent shooting in their 2025 playoff matchup against Golden State. They told him how much they needed his size and athleticism after trading Julius Randle and Naz Reid in the offseason. After the way things ended for Kuminga with the Warriors, and Atlanta’s decision not to exercise his $24 million contract option when the season ended, the love Minnesota showed for Kuminga won him over.

“This is your chance to go to a place you can feel believed in,” Turner said he told Kuminga. “They’re going to encourage you. They’re going to push you, but they’re not going to run away from you.”

Turner has a long relationship with Connelly and Wolves general manager Matt Lloyd. Minnesota started the recruitment with only the $3.6 million veteran minimum salary to offer, but Turner urged Connelly and Lloyd to free up more money to get a real shot at landing Kuminga for their vacant power forward position. When new controlling owner Marc Stad told Connelly that he had the green light to do whatever it took to get up to the $6 million taxpayer mid-level exception, the door opened in earnest, and Edwards kicked it down.

Edwards, the charismatic face of the franchise, has upped his vocal leadership this summer, including when he helped organize a team trip to Paris to work out in Rudy Gobert’s hometown. Edwards played for Kerr at the Paris Olympics, so he could relate to Kuminga when he talked about what didn’t work for him with the Warriors. Edwards referred back to the playoff series often in their conversations, telling Kuminga the Wolves had no answer for him on either end of the floor.

“Ant can relate to JK in a way very few, if any, in the world can,” Turner said. “Him saying, ‘I know what you can do’ meant a lot.”

Edwards knew the Timberwolves’ frontcourt was thin up after this summer’s moves, and he also knew that for Kuminga to get the most of his experience in Minnesota, he would have to come in with bigger priorities than just putting the ball in the basket.

Kuminga looked at the Wolves roster and saw Gobert, the four-time Defensive Player of the Year, McDaniels, one of the best perimeter defenders in the league, and Edwards, who can be a bulldog when he locks in on that end. He envisions tag-teaming with McDaniels in guarding the opponent’s best scorers, pressuring the ball, bolstering the team’s rebounding and creating turnovers for transition opportunities.

“Ant did a great job of painting a picture of we’re going to be nasty defensively, and we’re going to share the ball,” Turner said.

And after so much concentration on Kuminga’s spot in the offensive pecking order in Golden State, Turner said Kuminga just wants to be a part of an unselfish offense that moves the ball and gets everyone involved.

“He made this decision because of the defensive versatility of this team,” Turner said. “Offense is secondary to what he’s thinking about. It’s going to be whatever we gotta do to win that night. Nobody is going to care about stats or shots.”

For now, those are all just words that sound great. What really matters is what happens when the team hits the floor in October. But if Kuminga backs up his agent’s words with action, the team’s ceiling will be raised by a considerable margin.

Turner and Kuminga have faced withering criticism in some corners for how they handled his contracts over the last couple of years. In making this move to Minnesota, Turner believes it will put his client in a position of strength moving forward. If he comes to the Timberwolves and shows that he can impact winning by bringing intangibles to the table along with his overwhelming athleticism, the money will come.

The hope, Turner said, is that this is the start of a long relationship with the Wolves. But even if this is a shorter-term arrangement, both sides still have so much to gain.

“The best thing he can do for himself is focus on the moment,” Turner said. “If everybody guards and nobody cares about stats and it’s all about the team and winning, it’s going to be good.”

Thanks for sharing this Rap.

At least his agent is saying the right things. It's also interesting how Ant emphasized defense over offense. I also take this with a little grain of salt since it's from Jon K., who has become more of a mouthpiece for the organization IMO.

[Q-is-here]

Some here have mentioned what an excellent rebounder JK is, but Flagrant Howls reported some data today that surprised me in a very good way. I believe they said he was in the 98th percentile last season in defensive rebounding and in the 70th percentile in offensive rebounding...that is elite! We already have Rudy, Ant and Ball who are all very good rebounders for their positions. Adding another excellent rebounder is going to make us one of the top rebounding teams I think.

On the negative side, the biggest risk in the JK acquisition is getting him to accept a much more limited usage rate. His rate last season would have had him 3rd on the Wolves, and there just isn't room for that high a rate when we already have Ball and Ant plus a developing Jaden. JK took less money to come here on a one year deal (plus a player option) rather than locking in for 3 years with the Lakers, so he is clearly looking at getting a big deal in free agency next summer. My concern is he may think a big PPG average, even if inefficient, is the key to getting a big contract. Finchy needs to convince him that playing excellent defense and averaging an efficient 14-16 PPG for a contending team is his best path to a lucrative contract.

That 98th percentile number can't be right FNG. He wasn't even in the top 20 in terms of defensive rebound % among NBA players and even Naz was better (Naz isn't among the top 20 in D-Reb% either), whereas 98th% implies like a top 5 or 6 rebounder.

Also, last season was an exception for Kuminga on the glass. He's normally been closer to a 15% d-rebound rate (which isn't bad, but isn't great either). There could be various reasons why it ticked up last season, but I'm not going to automatically assume he's going to match what he did in a fairly small sample of games last year.

For all of Kuminga's gifts athletically and the fact that he fills a hole positionally, I believe what ultimately will hold him back is his outside shot. It's simply not good enough for a modern-day starting 4.

Q, I misremembered the stat that Phil Mackey cited on his pod yesterday, but it's still really good...JK ranked in the 95th percentile of defensive rebounding last season (80% on offensive rebounding). The stat came from BBallIndex. I don't know if you subscribe to it (I don't...way too deep in the weeds for me...but I do review their posts on X). I can't tell you the complex formula for their stat, but it goes far beyond just raw rebounding stats. One thing Mackey mentioned yesterday is that because JK is so adept at switching onto smaller players, he often ends up defending on the perimeter...much like Jaden. That makes his raw rebounding numbers more impressive. The Hawks and Hornets were my two favorite non-Wolves teams to watch late last season, and I can say JK's rebounding was quite impressive.

The same BBall Index tweet ranks JK in the 82nd percentile in perimeter isolation defense, and that also matched my eye test...he looks a lot like Jaden on the perimeter. It wasn't surprising to me that the Hawks gave up 9.7 fewer points per 100 possessions when he was on the court. This was a complete turnaround on defense from the guy I watched with the Warriors.

But yeah, his shooting may turn out to be a problem if he is not properly managed. While his 34.7 3-point percentage was not bad (and an upgrade from Ju) his corner percentage was a very poor 29.2%...still despite the lack of success, he took almost half of his treys from the corners! My elementary math tells me that his 3-point shooting from other than the corners must have been really good last year, and he was also 54.8% on his 2-point attempts. The solution seems simple, doesn't it? Finchy needs to keep JK out of the corners and have him focus on getting to the rim and 3-pointers above the break. We'll have to see if he can do it.

I'll let it go after this, but the 95th percentile in d-rebounding just doesn't pass the sniff test. Also, the sample size of games/minutes last year was quite small, so it's hard to take anything too seriously in terms of any of the stats you cite.

That being said, I'd rather those numbers be good rather than bad, so there's that.

[FNG]

That 98th percentile number can't be right FNG. He wasn't even in the top 20 in terms of defensive rebound % among NBA players and even Naz was better (Naz isn't among the top 20 in D-Reb% either), whereas 98th% implies like a top 5 or 6 rebounder.

Also, last season was an exception for Kuminga on the glass. He's normally been closer to a 15% d-rebound rate (which isn't bad, but isn't great either). There could be various reasons why it ticked up last season, but I'm not going to automatically assume he's going to match what he did in a fairly small sample of games last year.

For all of Kuminga's gifts athletically and the fact that he fills a hole positionally, I believe what ultimately will hold him back is his outside shot. It's simply not good enough for a modern-day starting 4.

Q, I misremembered the stat that Phil Mackey cited on his pod yesterday, but it's still really good...JK ranked in the 95th percentile of defensive rebounding last season (80% on offensive rebounding). The stat came from BBallIndex. I don't know if you subscribe to it (I don't...way too deep in the weeds for me...but I do review their posts on X). I can't tell you the complex formula for their stat, but it goes far beyond just raw rebounding stats. One thing Mackey mentioned yesterday is that because JK is so adept at switching onto smaller players, he often ends up defending on the perimeter...much like Jaden. That makes his raw rebounding numbers more impressive. The Hawks and Hornets were my two favorite non-Wolves teams to watch late last season, and I can say JK's rebounding was quite impressive.

The same BBall Index tweet ranks JK in the 82nd percentile in perimeter isolation defense, and that also matched my eye test...he looks a lot like Jaden on the perimeter. It wasn't surprising to me that the Hawks gave up 9.7 fewer points per 100 possessions when he was on the court. This was a complete turnaround on defense from the guy I watched with the Warriors.

But yeah, his shooting may turn out to be a problem if he is not properly managed. While his 34.7 3-point percentage was not bad (and an upgrade from Ju) his corner percentage was a very poor 29.2%...still despite the lack of success, he took almost half of his treys from the corners! My elementary math tells me that his 3-point shooting from other than the corners must have been really good last year, and he was also 54.8% on his 2-point attempts. The solution seems simple, doesn't it? Finchy needs to keep JK out of the corners and have him focus on getting to the rim and 3-pointers above the break. We'll have to see if he can do it.

I'll let it go after this, but the 95th percentile in d-rebounding just doesn't pass the sniff test. Also, the sample size of games/minutes last year was quite small, so it's hard to take anything too seriously in terms of any of the stats you cite.

That being said, I'd rather those numbers be good rather than bad, so there's that.

Very true that the Atlanta sample size is too small to draw any conclusions. I'll admit that I may be wearing rose-colored glasses here because I really enjoyed watching JK in a few games last March...I'm a card-carrying member of the "Steve Kerr/Kuminga relationship just didn't work" club, because I saw a different player in Atlanta. Here's another positive spin...he's only 23, and it's questionable that he has been effectively coached much with him changing high school every year, no college, a year in the G League, and 4 years with a coach (whom I like by the way) that he just didn't connect with. I'm clinging to the premise that he matured and developed in Atlanta, but they just weren't willing to cough up the $24,3 million team option. But we have him for $6.2 million. If Finchy can continue to develop him, we may have a very good PF next year (but most likely just for one season).

I'm digging a little more into his shooting numbers. Monster and others have pointed out that he is a below average career 3-point shooter (33.2%), but a deeper dive shows that he is actually quite efficient on his (shorter) 2-point shots. Here is a comparison of his career 2-point shooting compared to Ant and Jaden. The first number is JK's, the second Ant's, and the third Jaden:

0-3 feet: 71.9%, 75.6, 74
5-10 feet: 49.4%, 48.1, 46.7
10-16 feet: 39%, 49.2, 50.9
16-3P: 31.4%, 39.8, 43.9

And their overall TS% are very close: JK (58%), Ant (57.4%) Jaden (58.1%).

This is a lot of data, and most of you probably won't look at it very closely! So here's the summary: Overall, JK is as efficient a shooter as Ant and Jaden, but he needs to focus on the areas where he is more effective. His athleticism allows him to get to the rim or into the paint and score efficiently there. But unlike Ant and Jaden, he is a poor shooter from 10 feet to the 3-point line. The good news is Finchy and his staff know this, and they have the preseason to help JK become the most efficient scorer he can be.

[bleedspeed]

What AI says:

The big thing is that he is absolutely physically capable of being a very good NBA PF. He is about 6'7", extremely explosive, powerful enough to punish smaller wings and quick enough to attack traditional fours. He's much more of a modern athletic 4 / big wing than a traditional power forward.

His problem has never been talent. It's consistency.

Last season he was roughly a 12-point, 5-6 rebound, 2-assist player, and his three-point shooting remained around 33%.

But Minnesota might be an unusually good fit

This part makes me more bullish.

LaMelo → Kuminga could be nasty.

Ball is exactly the kind of PG Kuminga hasn't consistently played with. Kuminga doesn't need to dribble six times and manufacture offense. He can:

run → cut → screen → roll → slash → finish.

LaMelo is going to find him.

Then Minnesota can put:

Ball
Edwards
McDaniels
Kuminga
Gobert

on the floor. That's a huge, athletic lineup. NBA.com's reporting says that is indeed the expected starting group.

And defensively, Kuminga doesn't have to be the savior. McDaniels takes the toughest perimeter assignment and Gobert protects the rim. That gives Finch some freedom to use Kuminga's strength and athleticism without asking him to quarterback the defense.

Interestingly, Anthony Edwards apparently emphasized defense, not scoring, when recruiting Kuminga. Kuminga's camp said that conversation was one of the things that sold him on Minnesota.

The one thing that worries me

Spacing.

Gobert isn't shooting threes. Kuminga is about a 33% shooter. McDaniels is respectable but isn't someone teams treat like Steph Curry.

That means the Wolves can't have Kuminga standing in the corner while Ant and LaMelo run everything.

Finch needs to make him an active offensive player: cuts, screens, rolls, transition, offensive boards and attacking tilted defenses.

If Kuminga suddenly shoots 35-36% from three, everything changes.

Then I could see:

Current: #18 PF
Good Minnesota outcome: #12-15
Breakout outcome: #8-12
Poor fit / same player: #20-25

And he's only 23. That's the part I really like.

At roughly $6.5 million per year, Minnesota isn't paying him like the #18 PF. They're paying him like a bench player. So even though I'd rank the player about #18, I'd rank the signing itself an A / A-. It's a terrific upside gamble for a contender.

I can also rank all 30 projected starting NBA PFs for 2026-27 and show exactly where Kuminga lands. That would be a pretty interesting comparison.

------------------------------------------------------------------

I didn't realize he is only 23. I wish he was taller, but we have size at center.

[BeenLurkin]

We seem to give Ant a pass overall for his lapse in defense from time to time because we have seen him turn it up to 11 when it matters or when the matchup interests him. I have seen some highlights of Kuminga and it doesn’t seem like he is bad at defense because he is not understanding how to do it. Infact he looks pretty good when he is locked in.

Maybe he is the same type of mentality as Ant in that regard and maybe they can hold eachother accountable or motivate eachother by making great defensive plays and one uping eachother….

Or maybe it turns into a “why should I try when he won’t” type of situation. It’s low risk but maybe the reward is high. The guy is a freak athlete though.

[Lipoli390]

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/754189 ... -ios-share

As Jonathan Kuminga mulled over where his basketball journey would take him next, he got a call from Anthony Edwards that put the Minnesota Timberwolves front and center in his mind.

Edwards and Kuminga are kindred basketball spirits, in a way. Two high-flyers who like to put the ball in the basket and delight in breaking down a defender off the dribble with the shot clock winding down. But what really resonated with Kuminga about the conversation, his agent, Aaron Turner, said, was that Edwards didn’t talk about scoring at all.

“Ant was super active in the recruitment of him,” Turner told The Athletic. “One thing he did was focus his message on, we’re gonna really guard here. Everybody looked at the offensive end. JK and I looked more at the defensive end.”

Turner is well aware of the perception surrounding his client. Kuminga spent his first four-and-a-half seasons with the Golden State Warriors, and his relationship with coach Steve Kerr grew contentious before he was traded to the Atlanta Hawks in February. Some painted Kuminga as a player more concerned with becoming a featured scorer than with fitting in with Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and the championship-chasing Warriors.

Kuminga’s decision to turn down significantly more money from the Los Angeles Lakers, Portland Trail Blazers and Chicago Bulls this week in favor of a two-year, $12 million offer from the Timberwolves could help change that view of him as a single-minded player. The deal has a player option for 2027-28, giving Kuminga the flexibility to re-enter the market next summer if bigger deals become available. But Turner said that money did not play a role in Kuminga’s decision this time around.

“We sat at the gym this week, and I asked him, what’s the best basketball situation?” Turner said. “He said Minnesota. Well, nothing else matters. Why would you go anywhere else?”

It wasn’t just Edwards who made an impression on Kuminga. He had dinner in Miami with team president of basketball operations Tim Connelly, who didn’t mince words about what the Wolves could give Kuminga and what they would ask of him as well. Owner Alex Rodriguez connected with him to show him that he would have backing in Minnesota at the highest levels. LaMelo Ball and Jaden McDaniels also reached out, telling him how much they wanted him on the team. And coach Chris Finch had several long conversations with Kuminga about the team’s culture of accountability.

“It was such a solid respect factor from top to bottom,” Turner said.

The Wolves all brought up how Kuminga averaged 20.8 points per game on 54 percent shooting in their 2025 playoff matchup against Golden State. They told him how much they needed his size and athleticism after trading Julius Randle and Naz Reid in the offseason. After the way things ended for Kuminga with the Warriors, and Atlanta’s decision not to exercise his $24 million contract option when the season ended, the love Minnesota showed for Kuminga won him over.

“This is your chance to go to a place you can feel believed in,” Turner said he told Kuminga. “They’re going to encourage you. They’re going to push you, but they’re not going to run away from you.”

Turner has a long relationship with Connelly and Wolves general manager Matt Lloyd. Minnesota started the recruitment with only the $3.6 million veteran minimum salary to offer, but Turner urged Connelly and Lloyd to free up more money to get a real shot at landing Kuminga for their vacant power forward position. When new controlling owner Marc Stad told Connelly that he had the green light to do whatever it took to get up to the $6 million taxpayer mid-level exception, the door opened in earnest, and Edwards kicked it down.

Edwards, the charismatic face of the franchise, has upped his vocal leadership this summer, including when he helped organize a team trip to Paris to work out in Rudy Gobert’s hometown. Edwards played for Kerr at the Paris Olympics, so he could relate to Kuminga when he talked about what didn’t work for him with the Warriors. Edwards referred back to the playoff series often in their conversations, telling Kuminga the Wolves had no answer for him on either end of the floor.

“Ant can relate to JK in a way very few, if any, in the world can,” Turner said. “Him saying, ‘I know what you can do’ meant a lot.”

Edwards knew the Timberwolves’ frontcourt was thin up after this summer’s moves, and he also knew that for Kuminga to get the most of his experience in Minnesota, he would have to come in with bigger priorities than just putting the ball in the basket.

Kuminga looked at the Wolves roster and saw Gobert, the four-time Defensive Player of the Year, McDaniels, one of the best perimeter defenders in the league, and Edwards, who can be a bulldog when he locks in on that end. He envisions tag-teaming with McDaniels in guarding the opponent’s best scorers, pressuring the ball, bolstering the team’s rebounding and creating turnovers for transition opportunities.

“Ant did a great job of painting a picture of we’re going to be nasty defensively, and we’re going to share the ball,” Turner said.

And after so much concentration on Kuminga’s spot in the offensive pecking order in Golden State, Turner said Kuminga just wants to be a part of an unselfish offense that moves the ball and gets everyone involved.

“He made this decision because of the defensive versatility of this team,” Turner said. “Offense is secondary to what he’s thinking about. It’s going to be whatever we gotta do to win that night. Nobody is going to care about stats or shots.”

For now, those are all just words that sound great. What really matters is what happens when the team hits the floor in October. But if Kuminga backs up his agent’s words with action, the team’s ceiling will be raised by a considerable margin.

Turner and Kuminga have faced withering criticism in some corners for how they handled his contracts over the last couple of years. In making this move to Minnesota, Turner believes it will put his client in a position of strength moving forward. If he comes to the Timberwolves and shows that he can impact winning by bringing intangibles to the table along with his overwhelming athleticism, the money will come.

The hope, Turner said, is that this is the start of a long relationship with the Wolves. But even if this is a shorter-term arrangement, both sides still have so much to gain.

“The best thing he can do for himself is focus on the moment,” Turner said. “If everybody guards and nobody cares about stats and it’s all about the team and winning, it’s going to be good.”

For someone like me that is in on the Kuminga gamble but still has quite a bit of skepticism this was an encouraging read.

I'll say that from afar it seemed like for whatever reason Kuminga and GS just weren't working. People say Kuminga and his agent fumbled the bag. Yes they wanted the most money they could get but why sign long term in a place that didn't seem to really work for either you or the team and it clearly didn't get better last year so he was traded. Atlanta didn't put a high priority on him but then declining his 25 million option doesn't mean all that much. They were able to "spend" that money to add multiple useful players in the off-season. They likely didn't see anything more than a bench role and Kuminga was killed looking for more than that. Were there earlier deals they turned down for more money? What was the role with those teams? I'd guess that Kuminga and his agent unless they are as dumb as some people think had an inkling there would be some really good options possibly to start on good teams. He had a couple good options in that way one of them was a decent paycheck playing for the Lakers a young talented team or the Wolves team that's also young but with a more proven core and culture (this is bizarre). Hell ownership of the Wolves is more settled! Anyway I'm still skeptical to some extent but I do feel some reasonable hope this will work out and the bar doesn't have to be wildly high for Kuminga to clear to make this a success.

Monster - I look at this exactly as you’re seeing it. I think the view we share on Kuminga coming here is healthy skepticism. We have our doubts based on what we’ve seen from Kuminga so far, but we acknowledge factors or signs that Kuminga will take a very different approach and we’re very open to him proving that to be true. I’m not going to dismiss what Kuminga’s agent said as contrived and false. There’s no reason to believe he just made that stuff up. Moreover, it would be contrary to the agent’s interest to make it up since he knows there will be no hiding the truth when Kuminga plays and the agent would look really bad if Kuminga plays in a way that exposes what his agent said as a lie. Assuming Kuminga’s agent’s comments are totally contrived and that Kuminga won’t be any different than he’s been is cynical, not skeptical.

Skeptics have doubts but are open to proof while cynics refuse to accept possibilities or believe anything they hear or see that contradicts their initial view. I can sometimes be cynical but I’m keeping an open mind in this instance. Even if we were to trend more towards cynicism, we’d still have to acknowledge that there’s a good chance Kuminga will be a different player because even if he’s completely selfish and only about him and his paycheck, it is clearly in his interest to play the right way if he wants to satisfy his selfish motives. In other words, he’d have to be profoundly dumb or screwed up to keep doing what he’s been doing and not play team basketball.

Again, I remain skeptical, but I can easily see Kuminga as a changed player. Let’s remember, he’s still young and he’s been hit with a very heavy dose of reality. It appears that he came here under a recruitment banner of team basketball and defense. And I’ll come back to a key point I made in an earlier post. He doesn’t come with a reputation for not liking the game or not being competitive so he doesn’t have what I consider to be the fatal character flaw we’ve seen in others like Wes Johnson, Darko and Darrick Williams.

So fingers crossed.