Kuminga to Minnesota: Talent Case Strong, Recent Form Says Otherwise
With no salary data available to judge value directly, a look at Jonathan Kuminga's production shows a 2023-24 breakout undercut by two seasons of declining efficiency and availability.
Published: · Figures as of September 1, 2026
Asked: Is Jonathan Kuminga a bargain for Minnesota?
Can't price the "bargain" — no contract terms are in our data, but the production case is mixed
Whether Kuminga is a bargain is fundamentally a question about what he's being paid, and I don't have his contract terms or Minnesota's cap situation to weigh against — DataBaller doesn't carry NBA salary or cap data. What I can do is size up the production and fit, which is the half of "bargain" that's actually measurable here, and it's a mixed picture: real recent upside offset by two straight seasons of shrinking availability and below-average efficiency.
One thing to flag first: this signing is still "reported by NBC Sports, not yet confirmed" as of August 28, 2026 — nothing official has landed yet, so treat everything below as analysis of a likely-but-unconfirmed move.
The production trend
Kuminga, a former No. 7 overall pick, had a clear breakout in 2023-24 (16.1 points per game on 59.8% true shooting in 26.4 minutes), but the two seasons since have both been shorter and less efficient:
| Season | Games | PPG | Minutes/G | TS% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-22 | 69 | 9.4 | 17.1 | 60.0% |
| 2022-23 | 67 | 9.9 | 20.8 | 59.7% |
| 2023-24 | 74 | 16.1 | 26.4 | 59.8% |
| 2024-25 | 47 | 15.3 | 24.3 | 53.5% |
| 2025-26 | 36 | 12.2 | 23.1 | 55.7% |
| Season | PPG (points per game) |
|---|---|
| 2021-22 | 9.4 |
| 2022-23 | 9.9 |
| 2023-24 | 16.1 |
| 2024-25 | 15.3 |
| 2025-26 | 12.2 |
Last season's 55.7% true shooting sits below the league's own pooled rate of 58.1% and below the average qualified player's 56.8%, so he was a below-average finisher last year, not the plus-efficiency scorer he was in 2022-23 and 2023-24.
Availability is the bigger flag
Last season he appeared in just 36 games total — 20 for Golden State before a February trade, 16 for Atlanta after — with recorded absences of 16, 7, 6, 5, 3 and 3 straight games mixed in. The year before, he missed a 31-game stretch with Golden State. That's two consecutive seasons where he was unavailable or in transition for a large chunk of the schedule, on top of a midseason trade that reset his role twice in one year.
The fit
Minnesota's roster lost real frontcourt scoring this offseason — Julius Randle (21.1 ppg) and Naz Reid (13.6 ppg) both departed — while adding LaMelo Ball, Josh Green, Trey Lyles and a couple of unproven forwards. Kuminga, a 6'7" forward still only entering his mid-20s, is a plausible piece of replacing that departed production, but last season's numbers (12.2 ppg, below-average efficiency, limited games) are a level below what Randle was providing, not a like-for-like swap.
Bottom line
The talent and age profile are the argument for calling this a value add — a former lottery pick with a 16-points-a-game, 59.8%-true-shooting season already on his record, joining a team that just lost frontcourt scoring. The case against is that his last two seasons, not his 2023-24 peak, are his most recent form: shorter, less efficient, and disrupted by a trade. Whether that adds up to a "bargain" depends entirely on what Minnesota is paying, which isn't something I can check. Confidence in the production read itself: Medium — the underlying game logs are complete, but the sample of what he actually was last season is thinned by exactly the availability issue described above.