Jonathan Kuminga's playing time, explained: Why Warriors 22-year old isn't playing in playoffs

Jonathan Kuminga is the only card the Warriors really haven't tried to play.

The talented 22-year old took part in two games against the Rockets through the first six, but those were only due to Jimmy Butler being injured.

Kuminga hasn't seen the floor for a second in Games 4, 5 and 6.

Coach Steve Kerr said "everything is on the table" for Game 7, so we'll see if anything changes.

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Why isn't Jonathan Kuminga playing?

This total absence of Kuminga dates back to the final game of the regular season, a playoff-like game against the Clippers with huge seeding implications.

That day, Kerr took Kuminga out of the rotation entirely. That strategy has continued in all the playoff games Butler has been and stayed healthy.

Kerr's explanation mostly makes sense. He doesn't like the spacing of lineups that include all three of Butler, Kuminga and Draymond Green.

But Kuminga is also one of the most athletic Warriors, and there's no rule against him coming in for a few minutes when one of Butler or Green sits.

The Warriors clearly feel they're making the right call on this, but in Games 5 and 6 against the Rockets, they struggled to score. Maybe Kuminga could fix that.

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Jonathan Kuminga contract

Kuminga is in the final season of his rookie deal.

When the Warriors campaign is over, Kuminga will be free to seek fresher pastures. 

There's been some suggestion that Golden State could use him in a sign-and-trade, or he could just leave and sign somewhere else as a free agent.

It's certainly hard to envision him coming back to the Warriors after this.

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