Kuminga explains his take on handling the move to the Warriors’ bench, originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Jonathan Kuminga found himself in a new – but familiar – role on Tuesday night, and the 22-year-old handled it with grace.

After starting the first three Warriors games of the season, Kuminga was moved to the bench in Golden State’s 124-106 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans at Chase Center.

The fourth-year forward explained his thoughts on the move to NBC Sports Bay Area’s Zena Keita shortly after scoring 17 points on 6 of 13 shooting from the field over 28 minutes in the comeback win.

“It’s just the basketball game,” Kuminga told Keita. “At the end of the day, we always have to remain professional. That’s all we do. Just come here every day and play. Because that’s what we do every day, no matter the circumstances, no matter what happens. Done.” Coming here, being professional and playing basketball, the game you love, and then going home.

With Kuminga on the bench and Steph Curry, Andrew Wiggins and De’Anthony Melton out due to injury, the Warriors started Brandin Podziemski, Buddy Hield, Moses Moody, Draymond Green and Trayce Jackson-Davis.

Still, Kuminga played a big role in the Warriors erasing a 20-point deficit and beating the Pelicans by 18 points.

The comeback — in which the Warriors scored 110 points after the first quarter — was spurred by a halftime message from Green.

“It all starts with Draymond,” Kuminga told Keita. “Draymond came into the locker room and told us all, ‘They look good at the moment, but as soon as we put pressure on they’re all going to fade.’ And that’s the same thing that happened. We all came here with the same mindset and just put pressure on the defense. So that’s what we came here and (did).”

The Warriors improved to 3-1 this season, and an early lineup change that could have provided excitement doesn’t appear to be an issue at the moment.

Kuminga sees the bigger picture and understands that even if he isn’t in the starting lineup, he will play an important role for a Warriors team trying to get back to the NBA playoffs.

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