Does Jonathan Kuminga Hold Back Offense with Steph on Court?

Stephen Curry has played 303 minutes this season, and he's spent 250 of them with Jonathan Kuminga on the floor.

It's easy to see that the Warriors have wanted to keep that tandem together with the hope that Kuminga can take advantage of Curry's gravity with drives and paint points.

When Kuminga's first eight games included a stat line of 16.4 points on a 53.4 percent field-goal percentage and a 41.7 percent three-point percentage, it was clear that playing with Curry was working for him.

But was it working for the offense as a whole?

This Season vs. Kuminga's Career

In the possessions with Curry and Kuminga on the floor this season, the Warriors have a 115.6 offensive rating, per Cleaning the Glass. That ranks in the 46th percentile.

In the possessions that Curry is on the floor without Kuminga, the Warriors have a 129.7 offensive rating. That ranks in the 99th percentile.

That played out Wednesday against the San Antonio Spurs. Kuminga missed the second half with a knee injury, and Curry popped off for 22 third-quarter points. Overall, the Warriors scored 43 in the third quarter, storming back for a come-from-behind victory.

We must note that the Curry-sans-Kuminga 2025-26 lineup stats have a small sample size. Last year, the offensive rating was actually slightly better in Curry-Kuminga lineups than Curry-no-Kuminga lineups. Aside from Kuminga's rookie season, the numbers don't suggest Kuminga is holding Curry lineups back.

	Curry w/ Kuminga	Curry w/o Kuminga	Difference
'21-'22 O rating	108.4	117.0	+8.6 w/o JK
'22-'23 O rating	117.3	120.8	+2.5 w/o JK
'23-'24 O rating	119.5	119.0	+0.5 w/ JK
'24-'25 O rating	122.0	119.5	+2.5 w/ JK
'25-'26 O rating	115.6	129.7	+14.1 w/o JK

Moody-Curry Has Been Lethal Tandem

Moses Moody and Curry have spent just 59 minutes on the court together this season. Golden State's offensive rating in those minutes is 127.3, ranking in the 97th percentile.

Curry lineups without Moody have an O rating of just 115.9.

Last year, Curry lineups were better offensively with Moody (122.7 O rating) than without (118.6 O rating), so it's not just small-sample-size noise.

Moody has developed into a feared three-pointer shooter (44.3 percent this season), so it makes sense that defenses are having issues containing Curry and Moody at the same time.

Moody's three-and-D game fits well with any lineup, and up until Wednesday, Steve Kerr had decided he needed to play more with Jimmy Butler to give the Butler-without-Curry lineups more spacing.

By starting, Moody will be playing more with Curry, but will it come at a cost for the non-Curry lineups?

All I know is it would be organizational malpractice if Moody's minutes don't rise dramatically. He's averaging just 22.9 this season.

The Kuminga Conundrum

The issue for Kerr is that the offense has cratered with Kuminga on the floor and Curry off.

Last year, Kuminga-without-Curry lineups ranked in the 3rd percentile in O rating. It didn't get much better after the Jimmy Butler trade, as Kuminga-Butler lineups without Curry ranked in the 7th percentile.

This season, Curry-less Kuminga lineups rank in the 8th percentile on offense. And Butler-Kuminga lineups without Curry are in the 1st percentile.

The Warriors were able to get away with Curry-less Kuminga lineups when they had Chris Paul or Jordan Poole running the point. But Butler needs to play with shooters more than those guys.

In summary, Kuminga needs to play with Curry. Butler needs Curry on the floor to play with Kuminga. Curry benefits from playing with Moody. But Moody and Kuminga have not played well together.

I hope you got all that.

Verdict

Kuminga has held back Curry lineups this season, but historically that hasn't been the case. Therefore, I'd expect regression to the mean.

But it's also fair to say that Kuminga hasn't enhanced Curry lineups much either, and it's possible giving more minutes to Moody and others with Curry would result in better Curry lineups.

How this ends feels inevitable: The Warriors will trade Kuminga at this year's trade deadline (here are three trade ideas I cooked up).

As Kerr said in April, Kuminga doesn't fit with Butler and Draymond Green. The Warriors need another high-level three-and-D player, and a Kuminga trade is the best avenue to acquire that.