Jonathan Kuminga found himself in a new -- but familiar -- role Tuesday night, and the 22-year-old handled it with grace.
After starting the first three Warriors games of the season, Kuminga was moved to a bench role for Golden State's 124-106 win over the New Orleans Pelicans at Chase Center.
The fourth-year forward explained his mindset regarding the change to NBC Sports Bay Area's Zena Keita shortly after scoring 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting from the field over 28 minutes of action in the comeback win.
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"It's just the game of basketball," Kuminga told Keita. "At the end of the day, we always got to stay professional. That's all we do. Just come out here every day and play. Because that's what we choose to do every day, no matter what circumstance, no matter what's happening. Got to come here and be professional and play the game of basketball, the game that you love and go home. It's that simple."
Jonathan Kuminga tells @itszenakeita how he stayed "professional" to deliver a big game off the bench 🫡 pic.twitter.com/4xuzeX0awH
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) October 30, 2024
With Kuminga on the bench, and Steph Curry, Andrew Wiggins and De'Anthony Melton out due to injuries, the Warriors started Brandin Podziemski, Buddy Hield, Moses Moody, Draymond Green and Trayce Jackson-Davis.
Still, Kuminga played a large part in the Warriors erasing a 20-point deficit to beat the Pelicans by 18.
Golden State Warriors
The comeback -- with the Warriors scoring 110 points after the first quarter -- was spurred by a halftime message from Green.
"It all starts with Draymond," Kuminga told Keita. "Draymond came into the locker room and told all of us 'They're looking good right now but once we put pressure, they're all going to fade.' And that's the same thing that happened. You saw it. We all came out here with one mindset, just putting pressure on defense. He said 'As long as we put pressure on defense, the offense will be easy.' So that's what we came out here and [did]."
The Warriors improved to 3-1 this season, and an early lineup change that could have caused tension doesn't seem to be an issue for the moment.
Kuminga sees the bigger picture and understands that even if he's not starting, he's going to play a significant role for a Warriors team trying to return to the NBA playoffs.