Jonathan Kuminga will have the Warriors as his opponent for the second time in his career on Wednesday, as Golden State takes on Minnesota at Target Center.

Since being traded by the Warriors to the Hawks at last season's trade deadline, Kuminga has been more impactful than ever.

In his Hawks tenure, he posted a then-career-high plus-6.2 net rating, per Cleaning the Glass. In his four games with the Timberwolves, he's posted a plus-15.2 net rating.

In comparison, he had a negative net rating in four of the five seasons he spent with the Warriors.

Some will say this is evidence that having a coach who believes in him—or at least doesn't change rotations that often and doesn't critique players to the press—is the sole reason for Kuminga's more impactful play.

But I'd argue it's not just that.

The main reason Kuminga is playing better is he's found a niche as a great defensive player.

Defensive Impact Doing All the Heavy Lifting

Kuminga has not been a dramatically different player on offense since leaving the Warriors. His usage rate has gone down, and his assist-to-turnover ratio has improved. His scoring efficiency has been about the same.

Both Atlanta and Minnesota have actually been slightly worse on offense with Kuminga on the floor.

However, both teams have been much better defensively with Kuminga playing.

The Hawks were 9.8 points better on defense with Kuminga on the floor. The Timberwolves have been 15.3 points (!) better on defense with Kuminga playing.

In three of his five seasons with the Warriors, they were worse on defense with on the court.

Again, we can guess that some of this is attributed to Kuminga being more committed to defense in a new environment, but let's theorize what else is going on here.

Kuminga Benefitting from Better Defensive Personnel

A couple things stand out about the Hawks and Timberwolves in comparison to the Warriors.

First, they have centers who protect the rim at a high level. Onyeka Okongwu ranked in the 88th percentile in Defensive EPM last year, and four-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert is often in the 99th percentile in that metric.

Second, both teams have an elite on-ball defender who takes most of the toughest perimeter assignments.

For the Hawks, it's Dyson Daniels, whose Defensive EPM ranked in the 98th percentile last year. For the Wolves, it's Jaden McDaniels, whose Defensive EPM has ranged from the 87th to the 95th percentile over the last three seasons.

The Warriors didn't have a rim-protecting center with above-average size and defensive instincts in Kuminga's tenure. They did have Andrew Wiggins as an on-ball defender for most of his tenure, but not for the last year of it—and it should be noted that Wiggins' Defensive EPM was never in the Daniels-McDaniels tier, and it suggests his defense fell off after the 2022 championship.

This is all to say that anybody will find defense easier when playing alongside a rim-protecting center and a dominant on-ball defender.

But not everyone thrives in these conditions. So we have to give Kuminga his flowers too.

Kuminga Deserves His Fair Share of Credit Too

Kuminga just turned 24. It's no surprise he struggled defensively in his first couple of seasons when he was under 21 years old.

Since, he's developed into a defensive demon.

Perhaps his best defensive position is power forward. He's strong enough to hold his own on post-ups, and he's quick enough to stay in front of just about any forward. The fact that he held his own against Karl-Anthony Towns in last year's playoffs shows what he's capable of when guarding elite hybrid bigs.

Kuminga is also capable of guarding lead ball-handlers. McDaniels will get most of those assignments, but you can never have enough on-ball defenders on the floor. Inevitably, there will be switching and cross-matching that force your best on-ball defender off their best offensive player. The Wolves don't have to worry when McDaniels and Kuminga switch because there isn't much drop-off from the former to the latter.

Steve Kerr always wanted Kuminga to embrace a role that prioritized defense and offensive dirty work and less on-ball scoring opportunities.

We all can speculate as to why he's filling that role better now than he ever did the Warriors. But regardless of who's most at fault for the failure of the Kuminga Warriors tenure, the bottom line is it stings to see him doing things the Dubs need.

The roster would be better with him on it. And for that, there could be some regret among the Warriors coaches and front office members.