During the 2021-22 Season, the Bucks hosted the Warriors, and Steve Kerr compared Jonathan Kuminga to a rookie Giannis Antetokounmpo
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The 2021-22 NBA season truly tested Steve Kerr and his mettle as a coach. After a scorching start to the season, the Warriors started fizzling out, partly because of Stephen Curry’s shooting slump. However, they kept their balance and were at an excellent pace to end the season as a Top-2 seed. That was until Draymond Green got injured.
Throughout this season, the Warriors dealt with injuries and barely had their Big 3 on the court together before the playoffs started. During this time, he gave his younger players, such as Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody, a lot more minutes than many would’ve expected.
The same didn’t yield bad results. Kuminga played 70 games this season and started 12 of those. Averaging 16.9 minutes a game, JK did not get a lot of play-time but has shown glimpses that he may be someone really special. Head Coach Steve Kerr has talked about the same several times as well.
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Steve Kerr compared Jonathan Kuminga to Giannis Antetokounmpo in his rookie year
Back in January 2022, the Warriors made the trip to Milwaukee, to face Giannis Antetokounmpo and the 2021 NBA Champs, the Milwaukee Bucks. It was a tough matchup for the Dubs, who got bullied by the reigning Finals MVP. They ended up losing the contest 118-99.
However, after the loss, Steve Kerr talked about Giannis, and compared his rookie season to a Warriors’ rookie.
Steve Kerr: “When you look at where Giannis is now, and you think about him as a rookie, you got to think about JK (Jonathan Kuminga)… Not much understanding of the NBA, not much understanding of what’s going on yet. But that’s exactly where Giannis was a decade ago.”
— Mark Haynes (@markhaynesnba) January 14, 2022
Giannis, in his rookie year, put up 6.8 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 1.9 assists in 24.6 minutes. Kuminga is already a step ahead. He averaged 9.3 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 0.9 assists in 16.9 minutes.
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I’m not claiming that JK can end up being as good as Giannis, but at the same time, I’m not dismissing it either. The Warriors’ Head Coach has seen a lot in the NBA, and if he believes in the kid, it’ll be unwise to doubt Kerr.
