Kurtenbach: An unlikely combo could prove huge for the Warriors down the stretch
A two-way player and a 20-year-old could be the key to unlocking the Warriors' best rotations.
SAN FRANCISCO — The Warriors’ season is winding down — only 20 games remain going into Thursday night’s tilt with the Clippers.
Yet this team is still searching for its best lineups and rotations.
A steady diet of injuries and absences has hindered the Warriors’ quest for self-actualization. With veterans like Steph Curry, Andrew Wiggins, and Andre Iguodala missing significant chunks of time (all but three games this season, in the case of Iguodala), Warriors coach Steve Kerr and his staff have leaned on young players and even guys on two-way contracts to play major minutes.
And amid all that forced experimentation, an exceptionally useful combo might have been found.
Anthony Lamb is an unassuming wing on a two-way contract, a minor-league deal that limits him to 50 NBA games per season.
Jonathan Kuminga just turned 20 years old. He’s a raw talent. But he’s also one of the NBA’s most athletic players and is learning the pro game fast.
These are two players who, in ideal circumstances, would only play for the Warriors in garbage time.
But the Warriors haven’t seen ideal circumstances all season, so Kuminga and Lamb have played 338 minutes together.
And when that duo is on the court, especially as of late, the Warriors have played some terrific basketball, all in the Dubs’ trademark style.
The duo is going to receive more opportunities to play together in the days and perhaps weeks to come. If this level of play proves sustainable, Kerr would be a fool not to use it in the playoffs, too.
Since Steph Curry injured his knee on Feb. 4, the Warriors have played Lamb and Kuminga together five times, totaling 51 minutes. The Warriors have outscored their opponents by 32 points during those minutes. When those two play together, the offense flows and the defense is stout.
The wings’ games mesh so well, one can’t help but score when the other passes him the ball. Lamb has assisted Kuminga 11 times this season on only 95 total passes. Kuminga has assisted Lamb 11 times on 72 passes. That’s absurd efficiency, particularly for two players who aren’t known as passers.
“They can play off each other,” Draymond Green told me. “You space Lamb, you get Kuminga working in the dunker (just to the side of the basket), you get Kuminga working in the pocket (just inside the 3-point line, around the key). That’s where he’s going to be most effective at this point in his career.”
On defense, playing Kuminga and Lamb together gives the Warriors strength and length in the front-court in a switching defense. Kuminga and Lamb both have wingspans that are just shy of 7 feet, despite being 6-foot-7 and 6-foot-6, respectively.
“You always hear ‘Those guys are too small,'” Green said. “Quite frankly, when you have length, it’s important. It covers up not being 7 feet. It covers up not being 6-foot-10. Those guys have length.”
Green would know about that.
“Both are really strong,” Kerr said Tuesday. “In the modern NBA, you want as many different guys as can stand up to different players over and over again. You’re going to have to guard in space, and you can’t let guys run through you. Both guys do a really good job of holding people up defensively.”
Behind that strength, the Warriors have played both Kuminga and Lamb as smallball centers in recent games. The tactic worked.
But it worked best when both were on the floor.
It’s reminiscent of 2021, when the Warriors committed to smallball late in the season and made the play-in tournament with a late winning streak that helped them surge in the standings. A two-way player, Juan Toscano-Anderson, played as an undersized, floor-spacing center and unlocked the Warriors’ best lineups then.
The parallels are clear, though the Warriors’ goal is higher than the play-in tournament this time.
Kuminga and Lamb provide balance for each other on the floor. Kuminga brings athleticism that Lamb doesn’t possess, while Lamb can bring the instincts Kuminga currently lacks.
The combination has led to some big offensive performances from Kuminga in the Warriors’ last two games. Kuminga scored 13 points Sunday and 16 points Tuesday. In both games, the youngster — who is two years younger than Sacramento rookie Keegan Murray — looked incisive and confident.
“Lamb is a point-five player,” Kerr said. “When the ball hits his hands, he either dribbles passes or shoots immediately, because he recognizes what’s happening on the floor. It’s instinctive for him. He helps JK gets some easy buckets.”
“When he’s getting downhill, [and] using that athleticism,” Warriors guard Donte DiVincenzo said of Kuminga, “we get anything we want.”
The positive pairing should earn Lamb a full NBA contract, too. While the Warriors’ other two-way player, Ty Jerome, has done well in recent weeks, Golden State’s need for the point guard to play significant minutes goes away when Curry returns.
Meanwhile, the Warriors’ need for Lamb to play might continue into the postseason, given this newfound connection with Kuminga and the Warriors’ renewed commitment to smallball following the trade of James Wiseman and amid JaMychal Green’s recent struggles.
Plus, there’s a way to supercharge the Kuminga and Lamb combination.
On Tuesday, the Warriors added Draymond Green to the mix.
Three power forwards on the floor, all with the ability to defend at least four positions, with Green and Kuminga capable of going 1 through 5. The Blazers didn’t know how to handle it, and the Warriors came back from a 23-point deficit to win by 18.
The triumvirate only played seven minutes together, but those minutes were spectacular. Green, Kuminga, and Lamb posted an offensive rating of 150 (points per 100 possessions), with a defensive rating of 93. That’s a margin of 56 — a number so big it can turn a game in a short period of time.
The success of the trio shouldn’t be a surprise. It has played 83 minutes together this season and posted a plus-30 net rating. It’s not a frequently used lineup, but it’s been the Warriors’ best three-man combination this season.
With Kuminga and Lamb, the numbers are undeniable. They’re acing the eye test, too.
Who cares if it’s a kid and a minor-league player? It works. And for a team looking for answers, the pairing of Kuminga and Lamb is providing them. The Warriors can’t turn away from that. Not now.
“It’s going to keep working well,” Green said of the combination. “We want to keep getting good stuff out of it.”