The Warriors selected three players in the 2022 NBA Draft, adding to Golden State’s already impressive accumulation of young talent, led by the No. 7 pick in last year’s draft, Jonathan Kuminga.
And while the Warriors’ current draft haul, forward Patrick Baldwin Jr., guard Ryan Rollins, and F Gui Santos, has tons of potential, it’s still Kuminga that has many Warriors observers, myself included, most excited about Golden State’s youth movement.
Especially after I saw an old clip of Kuminga dunking on the No. 2 pick in this year’s NBA Draft, Chet Holmgren. Here’s the tweet from Warriors Reddit that caught my eye, along with a full Kuminga highlight reel — and a different angle of the dunk — from YouTube and Courtside Films.
That was some nice hangtime from Kuminga, with a bit of a double-clutch move to get past the (now) 7-foot-tall Holmgren. Here’s Kuminga’s expanded highlight reel from that same 2019 Las Vegas Big Time Tournament. You can see a different angle of Kuminga’s dunk over Holmgren about 25 seconds into the video.
That’s an impressive highlight reel, even if you removed Kuminga’s dunk over Holmgren.
And Kuminga’s high-flying ways continued as he entered the NBA last season. His feel for the game of basketball was stronger than anticipated, too. Though the Warriors are fresh off an NBA championship, all eyes will be on Golden State’s youth in the weeks ahead with NBA Summer League action heating up, starting with the California Classic at Chase Center on Fourth of July weekend.
It’s unclear how many of the Warriors’ young prospects — including Moses Moody and James Wiseman — will play in the California Classic, but I’ll be at Chase Center to see for myself. After the Warriors won yet another championship, I want to see this dynasty continue, and the youth movement, led by the dunk-happy Kuminga, is key to that equation as the NBA attempts to catch up to the Warriors with their own prospects and veterans.
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