PLAYER PROFILE

BORN: 10/06/02

HEIGHT: 6’7

WINGSPAN: 7’0

WEIGHT: 217 lbs

NATIONALITY: Republic of Congo

HIGH SCHOOL: The Patrick School (NY)

AAU: NY Rennaissance (EYBL)

TEAM: G-League Ignite

OFFENSIVE ROLE:
Lead Ballhandler

DEFENSIVE ROLE:
Versatile Three-Position Wing Defender with Offball Roaming Freedom

HIGH OUTCOME:
Primary Initiator with Three-Level Scoring

LOW OUTCOME:
Two-Way-Wing with Two-Level Scoring

ATHLETICISM / INTANGIBLES

  • Pretty strong frame which allows him to absorb contact. Was rarely challenged physically in highschool besides the matchups with Montverde or IMG.
  • Powerful, multifunctional vertical leaper who can finish through contact with ease.
  • Reclassified to the 2020 HS class and is the youngest player in this year’s draft.
  • Development in overall feel is quite positive to this point, but he has to improve further especially when it comes to decision-making and involving his teammates.
  • He didn’t play much high level basketball in his youth and moved to the US at the age of 14. He’s only played in the Democratic Republic of Congo before. Therefore, it shouldn’t be impossible for him to improve at a high rate in terms of feel and decision-making, which are lacking at the moment.
  • From my understanding, he is still learning the language, but is quite adapt at speaking English by now.
  • He’s the cousin of Emmanuel Mudiay.

OFFENSE

  • Can get to the rim at will thanks to his strength and solid ballhandling. The development curve in this area leads to some optimism for further growth.
  • Can simply rise over most defenders to get his shot off. Has some fascinating flashes of shot creation from three or the midrange area.
  • When he is on, he can totally go nuts with his shot creation. Takes many ill-advised shots. Tough shot taker and maker.
  • Indicators on his shot are not great. He seems to have a lack of overall touch with the ball. His FT% doesn’t look that great as of now, but in quite a small sample (116 FTA, 64.0 FT%). His 3PAr is quite high with 45 % but he’s only been able to convert on 27 % of his attempts so far in 21 games I have tracked in my database.
  • His overall shot preparation needs some work, too, as he isn’t really constant with his footwork and general lower body preparation before shooting.
  • The finishing leaves a bit to be desired at the moment. He just misses to many easy attempts or layups despite his elite tools.
  • He is a developing passer with some interesting flashes, mostly in transition situations, where he can survey the court and process things in open play. In the half court, there is a small processing delay with his decisions. Overall not a pretty good or willing passer at the moment.
  • His overall feel and decision-making are lacking in many areas. He can’t really process situations right in front of him now and doesn’t recognize mismatches on a regular. Tends to be predetermined in his actions. This shows in many difficult shots he takes despite having better options right in front of him. Doesn’t survey the floor at an above average level and misses many opportunities to hit open team-mates.

DEFENSE

  • Can be a great point of attack defender because of his big frame, plus level strength and long arms. The mental part seems to be developing. Shut down Cade Cunningham in the EYBL matchup, which overall was a pretty impressive performance from Kuminga and one of the better prospect games I’ve seen from this year’s guys. To be able to defend at the point of attack against different matchups, Kuminga has to work on his stance, hip flexibility and general awareness.
  • Seems to lose focus from time to time and is not a very engaged team defender. Can wreak havoc at the rim and in passing lanes when he sees things developing.
  • Can use his explosiveness and general physicality to play up in matchups. Despite him being the youngest player in this draftclass, Kuminga has already above average strength.
  • I will go deeper in this area after the G-League bubble since I’m unsure about his highschool sample and don’t want to go to deep here with only his EYBL and highschool tape at my disposal.

BOTTOM LINE

As we don’t really know yet how much G-League tape of Kuminga we’ll get to see, I decided to write a short Pre-G-League report on him as I’ve done with Jalen Green.

The overall situation for Kuminga’s development in this G-League team is quite fascinating to me. He is still quite young in the sense that he didn’t really played on a high level aside from his highschool career since moving to the US in 2016. The biggest flaw in Kuminga’s game currently is his level of feel and his mere experience in playing basketball or the lack thereof. It’s quite evident that Kuminga still has to develop in that regard to reach his full potential. There is hope for an unusual jump in that area because of his recent past as a high profile basketball prospect.

Feel concerns aside, Kuminga is a spectacular wing prospect with his strong physical profile and current development arc in terms of his basketball skills. There isn’t a single area Kuminga didn’t really improve in the last couple of years. He showed that he is utilized best on the ball whilst understanding that he has some ways to go as a off-ball player. The latter part will be answered soon as he now plays alongside another high level prospect in Jalen Green who also is best utilized on-ball. His rim pressure is already remarkable, and he should be a fearsome cutter as soon as he learns to play alongside other ball dominant players. The growth process in this area will be pretty interesting to keep track of. Wing prospects with his size, on-ball utility and positive development arc are no commodity and are valued extremely high by NBA front offices.

With the already mentioned concerns regarding his level of feel, I don’t consider him a potential number one option on offense who could take on a lot of usage and make decisions. He should be best suited in a situation where he has one or two good decision makers alongside him in the lineup to mitigate his shortcomings. In this situation he could lead more second side attacks out of pick and rolls or just catch and drive attacks and develop a better understanding in these situations.

AS OF: 2/10/2021