It’s rare to see young players in high places in a Draft joining a team that is playing the title a few months later. Yet this is the unique situation of James Wiseman and Jonathan Kumingaselected, in 2020 for the first and 2021 for the second, in the “lottery” by the Warriors (respectively in 2nd and 7th positions).
Because after five years of domination, between 2014 and 2019, the Warriors then went through a big slump between the departure of Kevin Durant in the summer of 2019, the first serious injury of Klay Thompson, then the various glitches of Stephen Curry and Draymond Green. And again a very serious injury for Klay Thompson.
Result: the franchise with three titles in five seasons found itself excluded from the playoffs for two consecutive years, and this is how they had the possibility of selecting James Wiseman, while they recovered Jonathan Kuminga thanks to the Draft choice obtained during the transfer between D’Angelo Russell and Andrew Wiggins.
A privilege for these young players still in development, given the talent of the franchise to develop internally, but above all a boon for the club, which already holds in them an important part of its future. Because Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, as important as they are still today, are not eternal.
” From an athletic point of view, they are freaks of nature. Guys like them don’t get your hands on every four mornings” judged their coach Steve Kerrbefore recalling that the road to a major role in its rotation is still long.
” There is a lot of work needed to get there. And they work. This is Jonathan’s first season, while James has been out for almost a year. He still hasn’t played a single Summer League, he still hasn’t taken part in a full training camp. […] So there is still work. But the potential for an incredible ‘frontcourt’ is there.“
Good news for the franchise: their two young prodigies appreciate each other a lot.
” I’m proud of him because he gives his all said James Wiseman of his teammate. ” I am happy that he is in our team, and simply proud that he provides so much on the floor. “Before Jonathan Kuminga returns the favor to him:” I have the feeling that when he comes back, he will just have to find his bearings and then he will be useful to us. Our relationship will only be better for it.“
| Shots | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | bp | Int | CT | party | Points |
| Stephen Curry | 54 | 34.8 | 42.8 | 37.9 | 91.9 | 0.6 | 4.7 | 5.3 | 6.3 | 3.3 | 1.4 | 0.4 | 2.1 | 25.8 |
| Andrew Wiggins | 54 | 31.7 | 48.1 | 41.4 | 66.1 | 1.0 | 3.2 | 4.2 | 2.1 | 1.5 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 1.9 | 17.7 |
| Klay Thompson | 16 | 25.3 | 41.8 | 37.4 | 93.5 | 0.4 | 3.4 | 3.8 | 3.1 | 1.4 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 1.5 | 17.1 |
| Jordan Poole | 53 | 28.8 | 43.8 | 33.8 | 92.2 | 0.5 | 2.7 | 3.1 | 3.5 | 2.3 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 2.6 | 16.4 |
| Otto Porter | 48 | 21.6 | 47.4 | 39.1 | 75.7 | 1.0 | 4.2 | 5.2 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 1.4 | 8.4 |
| Jonathan Kuminga | 47 | 14.5 | 51.1 | 32.2 | 65.5 | 0.6 | 2.2 | 2.8 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 1.9 | 8.0 |
| Draymond Green | 34 | 29.9 | 53.7 | 28.6 | 59.7 | 1.1 | 6.4 | 7.6 | 7.4 | 3.1 | 1.4 | 1.2 | 2.8 | 7.9 |
| Damion Lee | 47 | 20.3 | 45.2 | 37.0 | 85.1 | 0.4 | 2.7 | 3.1 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 1.4 | 7.8 |
| Gary Payton II | 56 | 16.6 | 61.9 | 36.2 | 58.0 | 1.0 | 2.5 | 3.5 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 1.4 | 0.3 | 1.6 | 6.8 |
| Kevon Looney | 59 | 21.4 | 54.8 | 0.0 | 63.1 | 2.7 | 4.8 | 7.6 | 1.7 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 2.7 | 6.3 |
| Nemanja Bjelica | 53 | 15.3 | 45.3 | 33.9 | 68.2 | 0.8 | 3.1 | 3.9 | 1.9 | 1.1 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 1.7 | 6.2 |
| Juan Toscano Anderson | 56 | 14.5 | 49.0 | 30.1 | 59.6 | 0.5 | 2.2 | 2.6 | 1.9 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 1.6 | 4.5 |
| Andre Iguodala | 26 | 19.9 | 39.2 | 23.0 | 81.2 | 0.7 | 2.6 | 3.3 | 3.8 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 4.1 |
| Moses Moody | 34 | 9.5 | 37.6 | 30.6 | 82.4 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 1.4 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 3.2 |
| Quinndary Weatherspoon | 5 | 6.6 | 60.0 | 0.0 | 100.0 | 0.2 | 1.0 | 1.2 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 1.4 | 2.8 |
| Chris Chiozza | 26 | 10.7 | 29.2 | 37.2 | 100.0 | 0.3 | 0.8 | 1.2 | 1.8 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.9 | 2.1 |
| Jeff Dowtin | 4 | 6.9 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 1.5 | 1.8 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 1.5 |
