The Atlanta Hawks are now motivated to bring back Jonathan Kuminga this summer.
Kuminga is no stranger to being unwanted. He was thrust upon Steve Kerr when the Golden State Warriors drafted him, and Kerr never seemed to value Kuminga's contributions on the basketball court. That tension stretched for five years until the Hawks traded for him this past season.
In Atlanta, Kuminga had some flashes of greatness interspersed with periods of mediocrity; that might be the title of his memoir, in fact. But the question of whether or not the Hawks planned to bring him back this summer remained an open one after the New York Knicks blasted them out of the playoffs.
Would the Hawks bring back Kuminga?
The NBA Draft Lottery was going to go a long way toward answering that question. Kuminga filled a very specific role for the Hawks this past year, the superb athletic forward who can detonate in transition and is active, if inconsistent, on defense. As NBA teams ratchet up their intensity and speed in the playoffs, teams need young athletes they can deploy as a counter. Kuminga was that guy for the Hawks.
It worked for one playoff game, and then Kuminga fell off, but there was proof of concept. With Jalen Johnson, Onyeka Okongwu and Dyson Daniels in the frontcourt, there is not necessarily a starting spot available for Kuminga. With that being said, there was and is room in the rotation for such a player. Right now, none of the starting frontcourt offers that same pop that Kuminga does.
The 2026 NBA Draft does offer such impact, at least at the top. This year's draft class is loaded with talent, but the positional distribution is not even. That is to say, after the first four picks, there is a tier of players who are all too good to pass on, and who are all on-ball guards.
A Clear Top 4
The Hawks entered the draft lottery armed with an unprotected pick from the New Orleans Pelicans, along with some ping pong balls from the Milwaukee Bucks. That gave them a 40 percent chance of moving into the Top 4.
If they did, then they very likely would have come away with one of the top forwards in this draft class: AJ Dybantsa, Cameron Boozer or Caleb Wilson. From Dybantsa's score-first mentality to Wilson's athleticism and motor, those players would have filled a need for the Hawks -- and potentially at the cost of not needing Jonathan Kuminga any longer.
Guards Galore
Move up, and Kuminga's chances of returning to the Hawks go down. Stay put, and instead the Hawks would be picking from a selection of guards: Darius Acuff, Kingston Flemings, Keaton Wagler, Brayden Burries and Mikel Brown Jr. At least two of those players will be available when the Hawks go on the clock.
With a guard almost certainly the pick for Atlanta, unless they reach for a frontcourt player or trade down, the Hawks appear to still have a need for a player like Kuminga. After trading away Kristaps Porzingis for him in February, the franchise is likely to bring him back, either on his current deal or a new one that the two sides negotiate.
The NBA Draft Lottery changed the fate for many teams and many players on Sunday afternoon. Jonathan Kuminga was one of those players - and his future looks much safer now.
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