NBA News: Lakers Coach Raves About Warriors Rising Star Who Guarded LeBron James

A Golden State Warrior is presenting a strong case to become one of the most notable rising stars in the league.

Klay Thompson and Steph Curry starred in the Warriors’ empathic 117-115 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday, Feb. 12.

However, another Dubs player who put on a show against the “Purple and Gold” was Jonathan Kuminga.

The rookie out of Huntington Prep played an efficient 25 minutes of basketball, racking up 18 points and nine rebounds in the process.

Kuminga has been effective on both ends of the floor for the Warriors, and Lakers head coach Frank Vogel just couldn’t ignore it.

"I love his talent," Vogel told NBC Sports of Kuminga after the game. "I mean, he is very, very impressive. They got a good one. Like, he has really elite athleticism, you can see the skill. You know he's young and he's only going to go up. I was very, very impressed with him."

Apart from contributing is the team’s scoring, Kuminga also didn’t fail to deliver in one of the toughest assignments of his rookie season—guarding LeBron James.

Though Kuminga did not really stop James, who finished with 26 points, 15 rebounds, and eight assists, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr still raved about the teenager’s performance.

According to Kerr, Kuminga has been taking on his tasks beyond expectations. He also confirmed that aside from James, the 19-year-old will be deployed to man more star players “in the playoffs.”

"The plan was, let's get him experience now," Kerr said of Kuminga. "Let's put him on LeBron now, because he's gonna have to guard LeBron and plenty of other guys in the playoffs who are really, really tough jobs, tough covers. We're just trying to get him all the experience we can right now. He's handling it beyond anything I could have expected, even a couple of weeks ago.”

"His rise this last month has just been brilliant," he continued.

On the other hand, Kuminga reckoned that it was a tremendous opportunity to share the floor with James.

"Playing against people like that, the day they retire... they're not gonna be there,” Kuminga said of playing against James. “So, [I’m] picking up the little things that he does on the floor and maybe learn from that."