Pop quiz, Dub Nation. Who led the Warriors in scoring during last year’s Western Conference Semifinals against Minnesota?
If you guessed Jimmy Butler, you’d be wrong. The actual answer? Jonathan Kuminga,
who averaged 20.8 points per game across the five playoff contests, fighting to carry Golden State’s offense after Steph Curry limped off with a hamstring injury in Game 1.
Here’s the cruel twist: Kuminga might not even play Friday night.
Golden State Warriors vs. Minnesota Timberwolves
When: December 12th, 2025 | 7:00 PM PT
TV: NBA TV, NBC Sports Bay Area
Radio: 95.7 The Game
Let’s rewind to last spring, because the context matters. The Warriors won the battle of Game 1 but it cost them the war as Curry’s leg gave out from breaking his foot off in the #2 seeded Houston Rockets the round before. Everything collapsed. Golden State limped through four straight losses watching Butler, Kuminga and a collection of role players try to manufacture offense without their gravitational center. Minnesota won 4-1, leaving a bitter taste in the mouth of Dub Nation fans who were thinking about a deeper playoff run after upsetting Houston.
Fast forward to December and Kuminga? He got a DNP-CD against Chicago on Sunday. Steve Kerr admitted Wednesday that “nobody knows what’s going to happen with JK,” which is a heckuva thing to say about the former #7 overall pick. His role is once again in question despite signing a two-year, $48.5 million deal this offseason after a prolonged contract standoff.
Think about that trajectory. Kuminga went from leading the Warriors in playoff scoring for their final series of the season to getting benched for performance issues in six months. The Dubs are 13-12 and working to find consistency, maturity, and understanding how to weaponize their strengths within a championship ecosystem. Add some health to that list as Curry returns back from a five game absence with a thigh contusion.
Minnesota comes to Chase Center at 15-9, still stinging from that embarrassing home loss to a depleted Phoenix squad. If they lose to the Dubs Friday, there’s some beautiful irony Minnesota has to swallow. The former disgruntled Timberwolf Butler arrived in Golden State from Miami via the Andrew Wiggins trade tree, a transaction that began when Minnesota dumped Wiggins to Golden State in 2020. Kuminga came to the Warriors via the pick Minnesota included in that same deal. The Wolves essentially gift-wrapped two pieces of Golden State’s present after Wiggins helped the Dubs win their fourth title of the Curry era.
Now they walk into Chase Center trying to send a message that they are done being a trivia question about who passed on Curry twice in the NBA draft.
