Jonathan Kuminga Headed to G-League

Top prospect to skip college, head directly to pros

As expected, five-star small forward Jonathan Kuminga announced he will bypass college and go directly to the NBA G-League.

Kuminga made his choice public a day early. He originally had his decision date set for Thursday at 2:00 PM Eastern and planned to choose from a final five that included Duke, Kentucky, Texas Tech, Auburn and the G-League. Word began leaking out in the media late Wednesday evening.

Kuminga also announced that, as expected, he would be reclassifying to 2020. The No. 1 prospect in the 2021 class, Kuminga "walked" in his high school's online graduation ceremony earlier this summer, leading to speculation that a reclassification was imminent.

The prospect of reclassifying made it less likely that he would be headed to Duke or Kentucky, although both blue bloods surely held out hope that they'd be able to pull an upset.

Kuminga’s brother, Joel Ntambwe, plays for Texas Tech and will be a sophomore next season after transferring from UNLV and sitting out a year. The Red Raiders were considered a favorite, if Kuminga had turned down the G-League.

Duke, lost out on one of its top 2021 recruiting targets earlier this month, when Max Christie chose Michigan State, and suffered another loss--albeit one that was more expected than Christie--in the 2021 cycle.

Kuminga, who averaged 22.7 points, 5.4 rebounds and 3.3 assists in AAU ball last summer, has also been a voice for social justice, a topic he recently spoke to Sports Illustrated about.

Kuminga becomes the first 2020 prospect to join the growing trend of bypassing college through the NBA's new developmental team in the G-League.