Jonathan Cuminga took on the “dirty work”. Timberwolves asked him to play when he signed with the defense-minded team in free agency, writes John Krawczynski of The Athletic (free link).
Head coach Chris Finch continues to praise Cummings, calling him a “stay” last week and saying the Wolves “would be lost without him right now” after Monday’s win over Milwaukee.
“He just keeps playing the perfect role” said Finch.Just taking timely shots. He really lets things come to him. You know, I have to find ways now that we’re down to maybe get him to take advantage, but he just does everything we need, and a lot of it on time..”
Minnesota has won three games in a row to improve to 7-3 on the season despite the blunders. Donte Di Vincenzo (torn Achilles), Anthony Edwards (knee surgery) and Terrence Shannon JrKrawczynski, who is battling a hip injury.
Cumingo, who has a $6.4M player option for the 2027/2028 season, is averaging 13.1 points, 5.9 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.2 steals and 0.9 blocks in 31.2 minutes per contest while shooting a career-high 42.6% from three-point range.
Here’s more from the Northwest:
- In an interesting story for Sports Illustrated, Chris Mannix explores how Ajay Mitchell went from an unheralded prospect to a budding star with Thunder. Mitchell and the head coach Mark Dyno not sure why the Belgian guard fell to 38th overall in the 2024 draft, but both sides are happy with how things worked out. Back-to-back MVP winner Shai Gilgeous-Alexander praised Mitchell’s versatility, while Dyno said the 24-year-old has a special ability to find ways to complement whoever he’s sharing the court with. “It’s a unique skill, especially for a young player who has to find his way” said Dyno. “But he seems to have a pretty good understanding of who he is and what he can do there.” As Justin Martinez of The Oklahoman writes (subscriber link), Mitchell scored a career-high 35 points (on 14-of-20 shooting) in Friday’s win at Memphis and will continue to play a key role for the 2025 champions amid lingering injuries Jalen Williams and Cason Wallace.
- The Thunder appointed Nikola Tema to their G League affiliate, the Oklahoma City Blue, tweets Martinez is from Oklahoman. Third-year guard who will be an unrestricted free agent next summer after his 2027/28 option refusedhas yet to play this season after the offseason back surgery– notes Martinez.
- Although Jazz lost his seventh straight game Friday, the rookie guard Darrin Peterson was a bright spot with 21 points (6-of-12 shooting), five assists, three blocks, two steals and two rebounds in 30 minutes. “Just a little more comfortable“, said the number two overall Shreyas Ladda of The Salt Lake Tribune. “Finding some comfort there. Get used to it. … Finding my spots, figuring out which shots I really like and which ones I want to get to. So keep finding them and I need to make them high.”
