Warriors’ loss is Heat’s gain
Nunn wants to show former team what he can do
MIAMI Friday’s game against the Golden State Warriors at AmericanAirlines Arena stands as a moment of irony for Miami Heat rookie revelation Kendrick Nunn.
The team that had no need for him last season currently stands as one in desperate need of someone of his skill set.
It is, in the end, a story about how a year can change anything.
Basking in their wealth of riches a year ago, when Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson where healthy, and when Kevin Durant still was a Golden State championship fixture, the Warriors had no place on their NBA roster for a player they signed shortly after he went undrafted in June 2018.
So Nunn, fresh off being the NCAA’s No. 2 scorer behind Trae Young, was stashed on Golden State’s G League roster in 2018-19, never to wear Warriors colors in an NBA game.
“I understood the business part of it,” Nunn reflected. “They loved me as a player, that’s why the signed me on draft night. So, I was thankful there. But the business side of it was I didn’t get the call-up like I wanted to, and they were trying to work things out.”
Ultimately, the NBA call came from the Heat, on the final day of last season, with the offer to develop him under a twoyear contract that included several partial guarantees.
Since then, there was the breakthrough during summer league, a breakout during the preseason and now a starting role against a significantly different version of the Warriors, with Curry and Thompson sidelined by injuries and Durant off to the Brooklyn Nets in free agency.
If there is a bitterness about being left to toil last season with the Santa Cruz Warriors, it is not visible.
“I felt pretty close with the Golden State organization, if it was going to see games during the year, or them coming down, seeing us,” said Nunn, who is recovering from a bruised sternum sustained in Thursday’s loss to the Houston Rockets. “They were in our gym, so they were always around. I wasn’t practicing with them during the G League season, but some guys would come down and practice with us.”
That included DeMarcus Cousins, during a rehab stint, which also had the Golden State coaching staff and front office in attendance.
“Boogie Cousins came down and practiced with us for a couple of weeks, for him to get back in shape to go back up,” Nunn said of the since-departed Warriors center. “Their coaches came down, the GMs, the staff was always around. We’d see them pretty often.”
As for what remains of the Warriors, the contact was limited, not necessarily as much feeling of being part of an NBA organization as now with the Heat.
“Practicing with them was pretty much training camp and the preseason,” Nunn said. “Once I was assigned to the G League, it wasn’t as much.” He paused, then smiled. “But now,” he said, “I’ll get to see them again.”
Being back
Even in defeat, Wednesday night’s loss to the Houston Rockets was a step forward for Justise Winslow, who had been out since Nov. 5 due to a concussion.
“The concussion symptoms were the worst thing,” Winslow said, citing headaches and light sensitivity. “I knew I wasn’t right.”
He joked how Denver forward Paul Millsap got off light in the collision, with 11 stitches.
“He got the stitches, I got the concussion,” said Winslow, who connected with Millsap in the wake of the incident on Instagram.
Winslow closed with 10 points on 3-of-10 shooting.
“It takes time,” he said. “I only practiced one time.”