Warriors assign Kuminga and Moody to Santa Cruz

The Golden State Warriors assigned rookies Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody to the Santa Cruz Warriors, but they won’t have to travel far to join their new team.

The Santa Cruz Warriors are facing Kuminga’s old team, the G League Ignite of Walnut Creek, in an afternoon pre-season game at the Chase Center tomorrow. It’s a 1:30 PM start, and the game is closed to the public, probably due to the Golden State Warriors hosting the Charlotte Hornets 5 ¹⁄₂ hours later.

Kuminga made his NBA debut in garbage time of the Warriors win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday night, scoring three points in six minutes. Moody has appeared in four games for the big club so far this season, averaging two points in 7.8 minutes of play, and he put up 17 points in his first game with Santa Cruz against Ciudad de Mexico Capitanes last Friday.

With Damion Lee’s impending return from a one-game absence, there aren’t rotation minutes available for Moody, though both players will be on site in case of injuries, extreme foul trouble, or a blowout later that night. The Santa Cruz Warriors figure to be loaded with talent for the first part of the season, as James Wiseman also expects to log time with the G League team.

Santa Cruz begins their regular season with back-to-back games against the Stockton Kings on Friday and Saturday at the Kaiser Permanente Arena. Kuminga and Moody should play big minutes alongside Jordan Bell, Axel Toupane, and two-way guard Jeff Dowtin, but in case of emergency, they’ll be just 75 miles away from the Chase Center.