Warriors Must Learn from Kuminga Mistake with 2026 1st-Round Pick

Golden State can use past draft miss as guide for who to avoid taking

Jonathan Kuminga | Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

The last time the Golden State Warriors had a top-11 pick, they took Jonathan Kuminga seventh overall in 2021.

They will be hoping to do better than that with the 11th pick of the 2026 draft.

It's not that Kuminga was a bust for Golden State. But his combination of poor perimeter shooting and mediocre feel for the game capped his impact ceiling.

The Warriors need a wing, and they seem to be telling us that they want to take one in the draft.

Let's go over the wings in their range and try to figure out which one is the most likely to struggle the way Kuminga did with the Warriors.

Scouting Report on Kuminga Entering 2021 Draft

Kuminga wasn't particularly effective in his 13-game stint for the G League Ignite, but he was 18 years old at the time. It's expected that a player that young will have growing pains in any pro league.

The 6'6" Congo native averaged 15.8 points, 7.2 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 2.6 turnovers with the Ignite. He shot just 38.7 percent from the field, 24.6 percent from three and 62.5 percent from the free-throw line.

Bleacher Report's Jonathan Wasserman compared Kuminga to Luol Deng in his scouting report and wrote the following:

"Strength, athleticism and tough shot-making skills fuel mismatch scoring potential for Kuminga. He'll need time to improve his shooting and shot selection, but his physical profile and perimeter game should create mismatches."

The Warriors were clearly enamored by his size and athleticism and ignored concerns about his shooting and decision-making.

Comparing Kuminga to 2026 Draft Wings

You can see below how the 2026 wing prospects compare to Kuminga when he came out:

Player	League	Age	PPG	EFG%	AST-to-TOV
Kuminga	G League	18	15.8	.430	2.7-to-2.6
Ament	NCAA	18/19	16.7	.452	2.3-to-2.3
Lopez	NBL	18	11.9	.557	2.0-to-1.5
Lendeborg	NCAA	23	15.1	.602	3.2-to-1.1
Carr	NCAA	20/21	18.9	.582	2.6-to-2.4
Burries	NCAA	20	16.1	.572	2.4-to-1.5

Ament is the most similar to Kuminga statistically with a combination of low-efficiency shooting and a poor assist-to-turnover ratio. But the Tennessee forward isn't exactly like Kuminga. He's 6'9.5", giving him more height to shoot over people. However, he's not nearly as athletic as Kuminga.

Lopez also isn't as athletic as Kuminga, but what they have in common is they both are more comfortable getting into the paint for their scoring opportunities. At 6'8.25", Lopez offers real positional size at the wing.

Lendeborg has the best statistical profile of the wing prospects as well as great size at 6'8.75". He's like the anti-Kuminga prospect in that he has great feel for the game, but he's so old for a draft prospect that it's possible he's already reached his ceiling.

Carr (6'4.5") is closest to Kuminga in athleticism and size, and they had similar assist-to-turnovers ratios. The big difference is Carr is more advanced from three-point range (37.4 percent) than Kuminga was.

Burries is the shortest of these prospects at 6'3.75", so the Warriors have to decide if they want another player who is more a 2-guard than a 3. With that said, Burries has decent athleticism and the type of shooting and feel Kuminga hasn't discovered yet.

Warriors Must Learn from Kuminga Mistake

The Warriors have one prospect they have to avoid in this draft, and it's Ament.

He's the most like Kuminga in effective field-goal percentage and assist-to-turnover ratio.

So it's fair to come to same conclusion about them struggling in a Steve Kerr offense, especially on a team that wants to be competitive with Stephen Curry. But how they would struggle has one major difference.

Ament is ahead of where Kuminga was as a three-point shooter. Ament shot 33.3 percent in college, whereas Kuminga shot 24.6 for the Ignite.

Ament simply has better shooting mechanics. There's plenty of reason to think he'll be a solid NBA shooter.

But Ament made just 43.0 percent of his twos. That's a brutal number and shows how limited he is as a ball-handler and scorer. Kuminga, despite having some ball-handling issues, made 46.3 percent of his twos in a better league at a younger age than Ament.

So in summary, both Ament and Kuminga have a score-first mentality, but they have different flaws in their scoring arsenal that could hold them back for their whole careers.

That's an archetype the Warriors must pass on this time around.