HOUSTON — Jonathan Kuminga’s knee tendinitis flared up after the Miami Heat game. The Golden State Warriors rested him in Orlando the next night. Without him, Warriors coach Steve Kerr’s staff believed it was a great time to give the Draymond Green and Trayce Jackson-Davis frontcourt pairing a test drive. They started both against a gigantic Orlando Magic lineup.
But it lasted less than four minutes. Green was ejected. Had Kuminga returned in Charlotte two nights later, as was initially anticipated, the sample size of Green and Jackson-Davis together might still be tiny. They wouldn’t have started together. But Kuminga’s tendinitis lingered. He missed four more games. The Warriors started Green and Jackson-Davis together for all four. They won all of them with a steady defensive effort.
After the fourth win (and sixth in a row), a 133-110 extinguishing of the Houston Rockets’ playoff hopes on the road Thursday night, Kerr made a substantial statement that hinted toward his future lineup plans.
“Trayce and Draymond together have changed our team,” Kerr said. “It’s pretty dramatic, the rim protection and rebounding that Trayce gives us and what that allows Draymond to do.”
The Warriors are “hopeful” Kuminga will return Friday in Dallas. That isn’t a guarantee. They thought he’d return in Houston, but after a morning scrimmage, he was deemed “not quite ready.” Andrew Wiggins also tweaked his ankle and missed the fourth quarter against the Rockets. It’s minor, but his status against the Dallas Mavericks is shaky.
So, absences could redirect the plans, but Kerr is sending an early warning sign that Kuminga, who started 29 consecutive games before the knee issue, could be initially returning to a bench role.
“We’ve established something here for years: If we’re playing well, we’ll generally keep the same starting lineup,” Kerr said. “I’ve kept Steph (Curry) and Draymond out of the starting lineup when they’ve been in that situation.”
The immediate ramifications are small. Kuminga would still get chunk minutes as a reserve, and Kerr has changed up his starting lineup with impunity all season. Everyone but Curry has come off the bench at least once.
But a bigger-picture question about the frontcourt is emerging. Green is under contract for three more seasons, Kuminga is extension-eligible this summer and has played himself into a lucrative long-term payday, and now Jackson-Davis is the valuable cost-controlled center — owed only $6.5 million total over the next three seasons — who also appears ready for a starting job and 30 minutes every night.
Can they all play together?
“Switchable unit,” Green said. “Good rebounding unit. Good defensive unit with the length we present.”
But the presumed problem wouldn’t come on the defensive end. The concern is whether Kuminga, Green and Jackson-Davis can all survive as an offensive unit together when one doesn’t shoot 3s, the other two don’t draw out defenders on their 3s and all three thrive with increased spacing.
Kuminga, Green and Jackson-Davis have been on the floor together for only 18 minutes this season, spread over seven games. They put up a measly offensive rating of 92.5 in that brief time, getting outscored by 5 points. As this team tries to chase down playoff dreams, it also might be wise to get a better sense of whether those three can coexist in the same lineup before an important offseason.
“If we do it, Steph has to be on the floor, and probably Klay (Thompson),” Kerr said. “There’s a spacing challenge, for sure. But it’s something we could still go to.”
But the Warriors view this as a fortunate problem. Jackson-Davis, drafted with the No. 57 pick last June, has forced his way into the larger conversation, reminding Kerr and the Warriors’ staff of the benefit of pairing Green with an imposing defensive center, as he once had with a younger Kevon Looney, Andrew Bogut and David West.
“It allows…
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