Jonathan Kuminga likely OK after jammed thumb

The Golden State Warriors suffered a little bit of a training camp scare this week, but all’s well that ends well. Third-year forward Jonathan Kuminga injured his right thumb when it collided with a backboard at Monday’s practice, and avoided contact drills at Tuesday’s practice. Beat reporters noticed that Kuminga had a taped thumb at Tuesday’s practice, and that he was avoiding using his shooting hand during drills.

Thankfully coach Steve Kerr revealed that Kuminga’s thumb is being classified as merely “jammed,” and that the hyper-athletic forward is expected to be fine to play on Friday in Southern California, when the Warriors visit the Los Angeles Lakers for their second preseason game of the year, after beating the Lakers on Saturday night, in a game where Kuminga excelled.

Kuminga staying healthy is vital for the Warriors. Not only is Golden State expecting big things from the youngster, who just turned 21 a few days ago, but they’ll be relying on him heavily to start the year. Four-time All-Star Draymond Green has been sidelined with a sprained ankle, and is quite likely to miss the start of the season, meaning Kuminga should have a very big role in the opening games. So his thumb being merely jammed falls in the “disaster averted” category.

In other injury news, Chris Paul also sat out of Tuesday’s practice, but Kerr said it was precautionary and that CP3 had a great individual workout. He’s also expected to play on Friday as we all continue to adjust to seeing the longtime rival wearing Warriors colors.