Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Draymond Green Reflects on How He Related to Jonathan Kuminga
Draymond Green may only be 32 years old but he's already seeing the gap between his and the new generation of NBA talent.
According to the Warriors star, who's preparing to play in his sixth NBA Finals Thursday, this season tested his leadership in a new way — relating to a 19-year-old draft pick named Jonathan Kuminga who is now contributing to a championship contending team.
"You end up having to learn their generation because you just can't lead them the same way you could lead someone that's kind of our generation," Green said during his media appearance Wednesday. "You figure out what buttons to press and how do you get to them and how to treat them and what's the best way."
After spending the last two attempting to rediscover their basketball identities, the Golden State Warriors used a pair of first-round draft picks to stabilize its future. With the No. 7 overall pick, the Warriors selected Kuminga, who had played a season in the G League for the Santa Cruz Warriors (Golden State's developmental affiliate).
Early on in the Golden State locker room, Kuminga and Green didn't exactly gel, according to Green. Rather, there was an obvious disconnect between the two, primarily because of their age gap.
"I was talking Travis Walton, who trains me and he was like, 'Yo, what's your relationship like with Jonathan Kuminga?' and I said 'Trav, honestly, every time he sees me and he walks by, he just starts laughing,'" Green said. "I said, 'I don't necessarily think he thinks I'm funny, I think he's laughing at me.' And Trav said, 'well why is he laughing at you?'"
"I said, 'Well imagine when you see one of the old heads doing something. If you see and O.G. doing something, you're going to laugh and be like alright, I see you, O.G. And you're really laughing at the fact that that's so old school that it's funny,'
"That's how I feel like he was looking at me like, 'Dude, you're just old. You move old, you look old,' But honestly, that was a part of the growth and understanding him," Green continued. "Like okay, he looks at me like I look at a 55-year-old man who's got on his gear, hit getup. That's how he's looking at me and that helped me further understand how I need to relate to him."
Just one day away from the beginning of a series that could capture Green his fourth NBA championship and Kuminga his first, the Warriors are happy to see Green figured out how to get to Kuminga and level with what he sees as just a kid.
Averaging just under 17 minutes per game this season as well as a 22-minute, 16-point game in the Western Conference Finals, Kuminga has a chance to make an impact against Boston. All the while, he'll have Green on the court next to him, something they can undoubtedly relate on.
