One of the bigger sagas of the Los Angeles Lakers' past offseason was the pursuit of Jonathan Kuminga.
For a while, it felt like the former Golden State Warriors lottery pick was a lock to be wearing purple and gold for the 2026-27 season. The two sides were heavily linked, and Rob Pelinka had left an opening at one of their starting forward spots for him to come in as a two-way connective piece. Things didn’t go that way as Kuminga opted to join the Minnesota Timberwolves.
That decision was clowned a lot. Many thought the Lakers actually avoided a problem by not signing Kuminga, but that stance has aged poorly.
Jonathan Kuminga is buying into his role with the Timberwolves
For his entire NBA career, Kuminga has struggled to accept that no team really wants him to be a super ball-dominant scorer and that his tools are better suited to a complementary role. Although Kuminga and his representation went on what felt like a press tour to suggest he was going to buy in with the Wolves and do whatever they needed him to do, his past made that easy to doubt.
It is still early, but Kuminga has been the ideal role player and dirty-work connective piece for the Timberwolves and is coming off arguably his best performance of the season in an upset win over the Houston Rockets. In that one, Kuminga poured in 16 points on four-of-seven shooting from 3-point range, to go with eight rebounds, five assists, one steal, and one block.
Jonathan Kuminga could have put Lakers' forward rotation over the top
There is a lot to love about the Lakers forward group. Jake LaRavia plays so hard, and with his improved shooting, he has only become a more impactful piece. Ziaire Williams has rocked as a point-of-attack defender and calculated connector on offense. And Sandro Mamukelashvili has been nothing short of impressive to me.
But could you imagine, just for a second, Kuminga playing the way he is right now with that collection of other forwards? It would be so lethal and even give JJ Redick the option to roll with even more size in his starting lineup than he has been able to start this season.
Through nine appearances, Kuminga is averaging 12.7 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 2.9 assists per game while shooting 44.1 percent from the field. Even more impressive than those counting stats is his 46.3 percent three-point percentage and the 2.2 stocks (steals plus blocks) he’s giving the Wolves on a nightly basis.
Kuminga has been such a reliable shooter, particularly from the corners, as he ranks in the 100th percentile in corner 3-point percentage, according to Cleaning the Glass. Having another forward who can be a consistent source of offense when Luka Doncic gets downhill and looks to kick to the corner would only have made a Lakers offense that ranks first even more potent.
The Lakers are off to a great start this season, so Kuminga’s hot start doesn’t hurt as much as it could if things weren’t going so well. However, it’s hard as a fan not to think about what things would look like if Pelinka got the job done.
With Kuminga having a player option after this season, he could hit free agency and reemerge as a free-agent candidate for Rob Pelinka and the Lakers next summer. If he keeps playing this way, signing him will come with a much higher price tag than what LA had been reported to be offering him this offseason.
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