Jonathan Kuminga Could Become A 99-Cent OG Anunoby For the Wolves

Jonathan Kuminga is a disappointment.

The former 7th overall pick in 2021 has refused to add to his game. Over his five years in the NBA, Kuminga has remained a tantalizing athletic talent with few added skills.

Kuminga never added a three-point shot to his arsenal. He’s not a secondary ballhandler. He’s a decent defender who still uses his size and length as a crutch more than a superpower. Two teams have already given up any hope of turning the 23-year-old into the star many once hoped he’d become.

He’s missed out on tens of millions of dollars by betting on himself. I imagine the internal meetings between Chris Finch and Tim Connelly debating whether they actually want to go after Kuminga going something like this:

Connelly: As a President of Basketball Operations, I’ve advised many teams to explore adding Jonathan Kuminga’s untapped talent to their roster, hoping they can finally tap into that untapped potential.

Finch: Well, did it work for those teams?

Connelly: No, it never does. These teams somehow delude themselves into thinking it might, but… it might work for us.

Adding Jonathan Kuminga didn’t work out for the Golden State Warriors or Atlanta Hawks, but it might actually work for the Minnesota Timberwolves and their championship aspirations. Wolves scraped Kuminga off the bottom of the free agency market and signed him to a two-year, $13 million deal with a player option for the second year.

Kuminga reportedly turned down heftier deals with the Los Angeles Lakers, Portland Trail Blazers, and Chicago Bulls. The Wolves offered him valuable playing time, a chance to rebuild his reputation and value around the league, and maybe compete for a championship while he’s in the Twin Cities. Kuminga isn’t perfect, but the infusion of talent is just what the Wolves needed to compete with the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference this season.

After the dust settled on a wild offseason in which the Timberwolves salary dumped Julius Randle to trade Naz Reid for LaMelo Ball, there was a glaring hole in an otherwise talent-rich roster.

For years, the Timberwolves bet big on strong frontcourts featuring Rudy Gobert, Naz Reid, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Julius Randle. After Towns won a championship in New York, the Wolves sent Julius Randle to the NBA abyss that is Brooklyn and put Naz Reid on an exciting young Charlotte Hornets squad. The Timberwolves finally gave Anthony Edwards a backcourt running mate worthy of him in LaMelo Ball. All it cost them was their frontcourt depth.

The big question of the offseason went from who will be Minnesota’s point guard to who will plug the gaping hole at power forward? Theories ranged from Jaden McDaniels sliding up a spot to play the 4, to Joan Beringer being ready for primetime, to a platoon of Trey Lyles, Terrence Shannon Jr. and Jaylen Clark. Now the Wolves have their power forward for this season in the 6’7”, 225-pound Kuminga, and a balanced roster going into the 2026-27 season.

The reason why Kuminga has a better shot of serving Minnesota’s needs than any of his previous teams is that the Timberwolves don’t need him to be awesome. They need his big body to grab a few rebounds, play some defense, and clean up Ant, Jaden, and LaMelo’s misses. If he learns how to knock down an occasional corner three like Aaron Gordon finally trained himself to do in Denver, fantastic. Still, if all he does on offense is wait for a lob from LaMelo Ball, that sure will look better with Kuminga on the receiving end than Jaylen Clark or Ayo Dosunmu.

Kuminga wore out his welcome in Golden State because he was pegged as one of the most important pillars of the second wave of the ill-fated “two timelines” attempt to bridge the gap between the Steph Curry dynasty and the future. He was constantly in Steve Kerr’s doghouse, and the Warriors traded him to the Hawks alongside Buddy Hield for Kristaps Porzingis. In 16 games in Atlanta, Kuminga took a backseat to Jalen Johnson, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, and CJ McCollum. Still, he played an important role in Atlanta’s two playoff wins against the New York Knicks in the first round.

Now with the Timberwolves, he needs to find a way to fit in rather than fit out. He’ll likely start at power forward and play heavy minutes in the rotation. Still, at best, he’ll slot in at fifth in the pecking order behind Edwards, Ball, McDaniels, and Dosunmu. He’ll probably cede touches at times to Gobert, who needs to get fed once in a while for all his dirty work.

If Kuminga can tailor his game as a hard-nosed role player who does some dirty work of his own, he’ll thrive in an understated role in Minnesota. That includes actually boxing out for rebounds, diving for 50/50 balls, and getting his hands dirty. He’ll also have to switch 1-5 on defense and grab offensive rebounds, and maybe he’ll get rewarded with added scoring opportunities.

Jonathan Kuminga will not win the Timberwolves a championship himself. But adding a player of his talent pushes the Wolves into true championship contention. Adding Kuminga will come at the cost of likely moving on from Josh Green. Still, the possibility of Kuminga becoming a 99-cent OG Anunoby for a talented Wolves team was too good to pass up.

It never works for those other teams, but maybe this time it will work out for the Timberwolves.