Jonathan Kuminga, Gui Santos, Gary Payton II prosperous like Warriors’ Wings

San Francisco-The Red-Hot Steph Curry, Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green rightly obtain most of the applause for the Record of 21-5 of the Warriors and climb the classification of the Western Conference from the Butler trade in early February.

But supporting the star trio was a triumvirate of inflatable wings that adopted a more limited – but crucial – role in the sequence of five consecutive victories of Golden State during the push of the playoffs.

Jonathan Kuminga, Gary Payton II and Gui Santos have different skills, but everyone contributed in a unique way while playing the role of the high energy wing out of the bench.

The Warriors coach has credited Butler several times for having “clarified” the roles of the players, but praised the will of the trio to buy a role that changes the night.

“It will be different from night to night, and the only way to operate is so everyone kisses him, and that’s what’s going on,” Kerr said before Sunday’s match against the seed rocket n ° 2.

The Warriors (46-31) entered Sunday as a fifth seeded but only half a game in front of the Grizzlies of eighth seeded (46-32), a team on which Golden State has the equality break.

Payton is the team’s best defensive goalkeeper and is back in full strength after missing four recent games with a left thumb injury.

Most of its value comes from the defense, but Payton also draws 64.3% of the field since the trade, and also grease the wheels of the Warriors attack with its death, even if its assistance numbers oscillate around one per game.

“If you watch Gary’s game in the last month, six weeks, he was really fit,” Kerr said. “He is one of our best ball massins. He catches it and balances it.”

Jonathan Kuminga played 11 games, with an average of 12.9 points on the bench since his return from an ankle injury. He usually played more than 20 minutes in each match, including an 18 -point match and nine reimburses in Los Angeles.

Kuminga then played 18 minutes against Denver, keeping Nikola Jokic and Aaron Gordon as a de facto center.

The last but not the least is Gui Santos, a 7 -foot 7 -inch spark whose defense and energy had an impact that Steph Curry implored Kerr to put the Brazilian in Friday’s victory on Denver.

He had a massive impact on offensive glass, where he steals possessions for the Warriors by entering the boards that most other players could not. Although he played only 15 minutes a night from the trade, Santos dropped 40 offensive rebounds, the third plus of the team during this period.

How does the second year striker?

“IQ and understanding of his role,” said Kerr, pointing to his temple. “A player who plays with energy and discovers how to serve others. This is what he does, and that’s why he was so good.”

With the Warriors’ own health value – at least on the injury report – finding minutes has sometimes been difficult.

But as Kerr mentioned on Sunday, having an abundance of options with only five games to play in the regular season is not a bad problem to have.

“I hope this will remain in this way,” said Kerr. “You know, you hit wooden, but it helps everything in this league at this time of year.”

Originally published: April 6, 2025 at 5.30 p.m.