Jonathan Kuminga thrust into bigger scoring role with Timberwolves ahead of matchup with Warriors

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - OCTOBER 25: Jonathan Kuminga #24 reacts as Anthony Edwards #5 of the Minnesota Timberwolves looks on against the Toronto Raptors in the second quarter during the home opener at Target Center on October 25, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Timberwolves defeated the Raptors 117-94. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by David Berding/Getty Images) | Getty Images

When Klay Thompson was still with the Golden State Warriors, he had a tradition for every time a teammate went up against their former teams. As the team met to prepare for the opponent, Thompson would single them out and shout, “They didn’t want you!”

It didn’t matter how long it had been since the player left the team, the circumstances of their departures, or whether there was any actual animosity. Zaza Pachulia facing the Milwaukee Bucks three years after they traded him to the Dallas Mavericks? “They didn’t want you!” Andre Iguodala playing the Philadelphia 76ers, nine years after they traded him, having played on three teams in the interim? “They didn’t want to!”

Reportedly, Thompson tried to get assistant coach Mike Brown fired up to face the Denver Nuggets, over two decades after Brown left his job as video coordinator for the team.

“They didn’t want you!” may be what’s echoing through the head of Jonathan Kuminga as he prepares to face the Warriors for the first time as a Minnesota Timberwolf. Thompson may have used hyperbole in his motivating efforts, but Kuminga can quite confidently believe that the Warriors certainly did not want him, after five up-and-down seasons since he was the 7th pick in the 2021 NBA draft culminated in a trade for center/future medical case study Kristaps Porzingis.

Kuminga faced the Warriors in March as a member of the Atlanta Hawks, shooting 1-for-9 and logging two points, four rebounds, and two assists in a 126-110 Hawks win. It wasn’t the strongest Warriors squad, considering that Jeenathan Williams played over 28 minutes in the game. (Williams is now employed in the Japanese B League, as is Forever Warriors Eric Paschall.)

There’s no reason to re-litigate Kuminga’s time with the Warriors. Interested readers can look at probably 100 articles and 10,000 comments if they want to go through it again. But it’s clear that Kuminga, who signed a prove-it contract with Minnesota late in the summer, believes he had more to offer than the Warriors let him show.

He’s on a one-year deal for $6.1M, with a player option for next season. Kuminga is averaging 11.5 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 2.5 assists in 29.8 minutes per game as the Wolves’ starting power forward. He’s gone 7-for-15 on three-pointers, nabbed two steals per game, and turned the ball over only once in four games as Minnesota began the season with three blowout wins and a two-point overtime loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers Monday night.

They also lost Anthony Edwards in that contest. Edwards out up 47 points in 41 minutes, then he and the team decided his balky right knee needed arthroscopic surgery.

Just in: Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards will undergo an arthroscopic procedure on his ailing right knee and miss up to two months, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/HenrAY2APs

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) October 27, 2026

The All-Star guard and his 33.3 points per game will be out until December, meaning that someone needs to pick up the scoring slack. The most likely candidates are Ayo Dosunmu, who’s likely to join the starting lineup in place of Edwards, and one Jonathan Malangu Kuminga.

Edwards is averaging 26 field goal attempts this season, launching a staggering 11.3 threes per game. Kuminga isn’t going to match that outside shooting, but what he can do is provide at least a facsimile of Edwards’ unrelenting rim pressure. And he’ll never be more motivated to step into that kind of scoring role than he will when facing his former team and Steve Kerr, the coach he could never quite win over.

The drama only becomes more intense when you consider Kuminga’s primary defender might well be Yaxel Lendeborg, another Warriors lottery pick who almost instantly joined the rotation. Lendeborg is already rebounding, passing, and doing the little things Kuminga never quite mastered in five seasons with the Dubs — while also putting up points.

As for Lendeborg, he’ll have to wait until Nov. 18 when the Warriors visit the Dallas Mavericks for his own “They didn’t want you!” moment. Even though he’s a rookie, Yaxel can still get motivated after his old college coach, Dusty May, drafted Michigan teammate over him with the No. 9 pick.

And look out for a fired-up LaMelo Ball as well. Joe Lacob didn’t want you! And he deeply regrets it!