Jonathan Kuminga shot 1-for-9 on Wednesday night in the Wolves’ 123-112 preseason loss to Indiana. I don’t think it means much. What caught my eye in the box score was the column next to it: zero free throw attempts in 18 minutes.
That’s the number I’d watch all season. Kuminga’s jumper will come and go. His job is to be the player who attacks the rim, and the Wolves just lost Julius Randle’s 6.3 free throw attempts a game.
What actually happened Wednesday
Kuminga finished with 2 points, 1 rebound and 3 assists on 1-of-9 shooting, 0-of-3 from three, in 18 minutes, per the CBS Sports box score. The Wolves were outscored by seven with him on the floor. The play-by-play shows a driving layup that missed and a cutting layup that Pascal Siakam blocked, along with turnaround jumpers, three missed threes and one made dunk. He went at the rim without drawing a whistle. Two nights earlier at Milwaukee he went 2-of-4 for 8 points in 14 minutes, and he shot 4-of-4 at the line, per the CBS Sports box score. Across the two games that’s 3-of-13 from the field and 4-of-4 from the line in 32 minutes. It’s two preseason games.
The job he inherited
Julius Randle left in the LaMelo Ball trade, and as I wrote in our look at the Wolves’ free throw problem, Randle took 6.3 free throws a game last season. Per Basketball Reference, he made 80.2% of them, and his free throw rate (attempts per field goal attempt) was .411.
Minnesota took 2,072 free throws last season, seventh in the league, and it shot 75.2% on them, 29th of 30 teams, according to the same free throw piece. Randle’s trips to the line were a real piece of the offense, and they left in the trade.
Kuminga is the one positioned to take it over. Here is his line from Basketball Reference.
| Season | FT attempts per game | Minutes | FT attempts per 36 | FT rate | FT% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-24 (GSW) | 4.0 | 26.3 | 5.5 | .347 | 74.6% |
| 2024-25 (GSW) | 5.0 | 24.3 | 7.4 | .414 | 66.8% |
| 2025-26 (GSW and ATL) | 3.4 | 23.1 | 5.3 | .363 | 72.4% |
Per-36 figures are calculated from per-game attempts and minutes. In 2024-25 he got to the line 7.4 times per 36 minutes, more than Randle’s 6.9 last season. Then it fell by two attempts per 36 last year, and his free throw rate fell with it.
Why the finish matters more than the jumper
Last season he took 27.1% of his shots within three feet of the basket and made 60.9% of them. Two years earlier, in 2023-24, he took 29.6% of his shots there and made 74.9%, per Basketball Reference’s shooting table. In 2024-25 it was 22.0% of his shots at 73.6%.
So the volume at the rim hasn’t collapsed. The conversion has. That is the part I’d expect to improve with a steady role. A player who attacks closeouts, draws a second defender and gets to the rim is a different offensive piece from a 33% three-point shooter.
His jumper is the part I’d stop worrying about. He made 33.3% from three last year on 2.9 attempts, his career mark is 33.2% on 2.4, and teams will keep daring him to shoot it. It’s why I’d start him next to Gobert anyway: his size and rim pressure do the work, not his shooting.
The free throw percentage is the catch
Kuminga won’t match Randle at the line. Randle made 80.2%. Kuminga made 72.4% last season and 69.9% for his career. A two-shot trip is worth about 1.4 points at Kuminga’s percentage and 1.6 at Randle’s.
At 6.0 attempts a game and 72%, Kuminga adds about 4.3 points a night at the line. At Randle’s 6.3 and 80.2% it was about 5.1. The gap is under a point a game, and it’s the cost of the swap.
The bigger gap is minutes. Randle played 33.0 a night. Kuminga was at 23.1 last season. If he plays around 28 for Minnesota, and gets to the line at his 2024-25 rate of 7.4 per 36, that’s about 5.8 attempts a night. That would be a bit under Randle’s number from a player who costs about $6.1 million this season. Our 2026-27 roster and contract guide has the full cap picture.
What I’d track
The regular season will tell us more than two preseason nights did, and it opens October 21 in Miami. I want to see three things.
- Free throw attempts. If Kuminga is under 4 a game, the paint pressure isn’t there.
- Shots within three feet. He made 60.9% last season. He needs to be back in the mid-70s, where he was in 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- Minutes next to Gobert. The pairing has to work without the floor shrinking.
If the first two show up, the 1-for-9 will be a footnote by Halloween. If Kuminga is shooting jumpers and settling for the fadeaway, the Wolves have lost something real in the Ball trade.