Jonathan Kuminga has seven turnovers in nine games for the Timberwolves. He’s shooting 46.3% from three, and most of those threes come from the corners. As of Thursday, November 5, that’s the least he has ever had the ball in an NBA season, and it’s the best version of him I’ve seen.
With Anthony Edwards out for up to two months after arthroscopic knee surgery, per the AP recap of Wednesday’s win, the obvious move is to give Kuminga more of the offense. I wouldn’t. The numbers say Minnesota found his role, and the only part worth changing is what he does between the rim and the arc.
The smallest role of his career
Kuminga’s usage rate this season is 16.2%, per Basketball Reference. His career mark is 23.1%. His lowest before this year was 19.6% in 2022-23, and in 2024-25 with Golden State it was 27.4%.
Everything else follows from that. His turnover percentage is 6.3, against a career 11.8. Seven turnovers in 278 minutes is the lowest rate among the Wolves’ regulars. LaMelo Ball has 36 in 240 minutes, Ayo Dosunmu 17 in 276 and Jaden McDaniels 16 in 299, per the team stats page. Ball’s number comes with running the offense, and that’s the point. Kuminga isn’t running anything, and he isn’t giving the ball away.
He also isn’t playing power forward much. Basketball Reference’s position estimate has him at small forward for 87% of his minutes. Over his career he was mostly a four. He’s starting, playing 30.9 minutes a night and averaging 12.7 points, and the Wolves are 13.0 points per 100 possessions better than their opponents with him on the floor.
| Kuminga | 2026-27 | Career |
|---|---|---|
| Usage rate | 16.2% | 23.1% |
| Turnover percentage | 6.3 | 11.8 |
| Share of shots from three | 44.1% | 26.9% |
| Three-point percentage | 46.3% | 33.9% |
| Free throws per shot | 0.258 | 0.358 |
Source: Basketball Reference, through November 4.
The corner is where the shooting lives
Kuminga has taken 41 threes in nine games, and 61.0% of them have come from the corners, per Basketball Reference’s shooting table. He has made 52.0% of those. That works out to 13 of 25 from the corners and 6 of 16 from everywhere else.
Nearly all of it is set up for him. Basketball Reference has 94.7% of his made threes as assisted. Forty-four percent of his shots are threes now. His career share is 26.9%, and his previous high was 35.9% in his 16 games with Atlanta last season.
I don’t expect 52% from the corner to hold. But the corner three is the shortest three on the floor, and a 6-7 forward who will take it without hesitating is valuable next to Ball, who needs shooters spaced around his drives. Wednesday in Houston was the example. Kuminga went 4-of-7 from three with one turnover, per his game log, and two of his threes came in the last 2:37, both off a pass, per the play-by-play. I went through how Rudy Gobert set up that finish on Thursday.
The leak is the short game
The problem is the space between the rim and the arc. Kuminga is 22-of-52 on two-pointers, 42.3%, the worst two-point mark of his career. At the rim he’s fine, 65.2% on shots inside three feet. From 3 to 10 feet he’s shooting 19.0%, on 22.6% of his attempts. That’s four makes in 21 tries.
Those are the in-between shots, and they’re the ones that will multiply if Minnesota hands him more creation with Edwards out. There’s an early sign of it. With Edwards in the lineup for the first four games, Kuminga took 35 shots and had one turnover. In the five games since, he’s taken 58 shots and turned it over six times, four of them against Milwaukee on Monday.
That’s still a small number of turnovers, but it’s heading the wrong way, and I’d stop it here.
What I’d ask him to do instead
He should keep driving, as long as the drives end at the rim or the free-throw line. Kuminga is getting 0.258 free-throw attempts per shot, down from 0.358 for his career. When he does get there, he’s 13-of-24, 54.2%. I made the case before the season that Kuminga’s free throws were the number to watch, and nine games in, that’s still the weak part of his line.
So my version of the role, with Edwards out, looks like this:
- Keep him in the corner and let the guards find him there. That’s the 13-of-25.
- Let him attack closeouts, but all the way to the rim. A runner from eight feet is the shot to cut.
- Don’t run isolations for him. His usage is low because he isn’t being asked to create, and his efficiency is up for the same reason.
That’s close to what I wanted after his four-steal opener: defend, move the ball, take what the stars create. The defense has held up, too. He has 11 steals and nine blocks, including four blocks against Milwaukee.
Why the role suits him beyond this season
There’s a contract reason this works for Kuminga as well as the Wolves. He’s making $6,064,000 this season, with a $6,367,200 player option for 2027-28, per Basketball Reference. He made $23.8 million last season. A season of 46% three-point shooting, low turnovers and defense in a winning team’s starting five is the best case he can make before that option decision.
The full Wolves roster and depth chart shows how thin the creation is behind Ball without Edwards. I’d hand that work to Bones Hyland and Dosunmu. I argued in September that Kuminga should start because of his size, and he’s starting. The size is working at small forward, in the corner, finishing possessions the guards start.
The Wolves play in New Orleans on Friday. Watch Kuminga’s shots from 3 to 10 feet. Fewer of those and more corner threes is the version of him that wins without Edwards.