After playing his senior year at a top high school in New Jersey, Kuminga, who is 6 feet 8 inches tall, could have gone to college at Duke, Kentucky, or Texas Tech, where his bigger brother was playing.
Kuminga, who was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, wanted to get into the NBA as soon as possible, so he took a different path. He chose to do the schoolwork needed to move up from the Class of 2021 to the Class of 2020, and then he signed with the NBA G League Ignite team. Last year was especially hard for Kuminga and his Ignite teammates because of the CσVID-19 p𝖆ndemic. They had to stay in their bubble in Walnut Creek, Calif., for months before playing a few games in the G League box in Orlando in March.
He told his family and himself, “I just sat down and thought about it,” Kuminga, who will be 19 in October, said in December about his choice to sign with the Ignite. “I chose the G League because I thought I could get better faster than on a college team because I would be getting better every day and have people pushing me to become the pro I want to be.”
Now Kuminga is almost done with the choice that paid off. Many people think he will be picked in the top five in the NBA Draft on July 29. ESPN.com predicts that the Orlando Magic will pick him fifth overall. The Houston Rockets are expected to pick Jalen Green at No. 2. Green is a 6’6” wing who can fly and played with Kuminga on the Ignite.
Kuminga did well at his Pro Day on Saturday in Chicago, where he impressed people from all 30 NBA teams that were there.
One NBA Director of Scouting, who did not want to be named because his team does not allow him to talk about prospects in public, said, “That guy’s body has really improved. He’s so big and athletic.” “He really did look good.”
People have said that Kuminga is like Celtics forward Jaylen Brown and Clippers star Kawhi Leonard.
“He’s built like Kawhi Leonard, but he’s still a baby,” said Fran Fraschilla, a college basketball expert for ESPN who recently saw Kuminga work out in Orlando.
There are a lot of players from New Jersey in the running to be chosen. Some of them are former Seton Hall star Sandro Mamukelashvili, Hazlet native and former Ranney School star Scottie Lewis, and Newark native and Auburn one-and-done point guard Sharife Cooper.
A lot of people think that Green, former USC big man Evan Mobley, former Gonzaga point guard Jalen Suggs, and former Oklahoma State point guard Cade Cunningham will be the first four picks in the draft. But Kuminga did better on his Pro Day, so he could cr𝖆sh into the top four.
The scout said, “You could make the case that he sneaks into that top four.”
Scouts like Kuminga because he is big, strong, and can defend more than one spot.
This season, Ignite coach Brian Shaw, who used to teach and play in the NBA, said, “Kuminga is going to be one of the best two-way players that the game is going to see.” “Paul George is a player I started coaching when he was in his second year in the NBA, and I think he’s one of the best two-way players in the league. I think Kuminga has the same kind of potential because he can guard 1-4 because he’s strong enough to guard bigger guys and tough enough on defense to take someone out of the game completely. I think that’s where he’s improved the most.”
Kuminga has always been known for being able to score. In the summer of 2019, he played for the NY Rens in the Nike EYBL and averaged 20.8 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 3.3 assists per game. Against the Texas Titans, he scored 43 points while shooting 7-of-11 from three-point range, playing with Cunningham and Greg Brown, who is expected to be picked in the second round by Texas.
Kuminga averaged 15.8 points and 7.2 boards in 13 games with the Ignite when they were on the verge of making the G League. He also made a difference in transition. His shooting skills have been bad, but he is only 18 years old and has already gotten better.
The scout said, “He shot it better on Saturday than I had seen him shoot it in the bubble.”
There were four NBA All-Stars picked in the first round of this draft in 2003: LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, and Carmelo Anthony. Many experts think this draft is similar. Fraschilla believes Kuminga might become the best student in the class of 2021.
Forschilla, “I was blown away by the combination of his size, his shooting skills, and his speed.” It’s easy to put Kuminga down because we know so much more about Cunningham, Suggs, Mobley, and Green, as well as Jalen Green. But Jon Kuminga is in what seems to be the consensus top five, and any of those players, including Kuminga, could end up being the best player in this draft.
“Once in a while, Jon Kuminga becoming an NBA All-Star would not surprise me at all,” he said. “I love how many years he could play in the NBA.” Among the top five, he has the best body in the NBA.