Just as Golden State Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga was finding a groove, he found himself back on the bench, this time because of left knee soreness that he sustained, along with a twisted left ankle, on a second-quarter drive during a 123-115 loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night.

While Kuminga briefly remained in the game, he hit the locker room before halftime and didn’t return to action. He’s dealing with a minor knee hyperextension, according to ESPN’s Anthony Slater, who reported that the injury isn’t believed to be serious.

Kuminga’s setback occurred in the Warriors’ second game since losing six-time All-Star Jimmy Butler III for the season because of a torn ACL.

Butler’s absence opened the door for Kuminga to play again. Kuminga, whom the Warriors selected No. 7 overall in the 2021 draft, endured a contract dispute this offseason. Then he requested a trade last week after being relegated to the Warriors’ bench.

But, after 16 straight DNPs, Kuminga was firmly back in the rotation. He went for 20 points in 21 minutes Tuesday in a loss to the Toronto Raptors and was following up that performance with another head-turning outing versus the Mavericks (19-26), who have now won four games in a row.

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Kuminga checked in with 5:04 to go in the first quarter and immediately ignited an 8-0 Warriors run that he fueled with a pair of and-1s, the first on a jumper and the next on a layup.

That flurry of points gave Golden State (25-21) a lead. Steve Kerr’s group recovered after missing its first six shots. It took nearly six minutes for a Warriors player not named Stephen Curry to put the ball through the net.

In fact, Curry converted three of his first four field-goal attempts — all three makes were from deep, including a 28-footer — while his teammates began the night 0 of 8 from the field.

That was a sign of things to come. Curry made eight triples. The rest of the team made seven. Curry scored 38 points. The only other Warriors player to score more than 12 was De’Anthony Melton. He pitched in 22 points.

Dallas, on the other hand, had four players pile up at least 19 points, namely Naji Marshall, who stood out with 30 points, 9 assists and 7 rebounds. Cooper Flagg grabbed 21 points and 11 rebounds.

While the Warriors entered the second quarter with a lead in hand, they experienced more shooting woes. They wound up finishing the first half with a mere 34.7% field goal percentage. They shot only 6 of 25 from beyond the arc over the first two quarters.

Flagg, who reeled in nine first-half rebounds, really made his mark in the second quarter. He followed a Klay Thompson missed 3 with a putback dunk. He also negated a Draymond Green block with an offensive rebound and clean-up basket inside. Soon after, he flung a pass to Thompson for a 3. Dallas dominated the second-chance points category, 24-5.

Kuminga’s final highlight before his early exit was an alley-oop dunk that he hammered home with one hand.

In part thanks to a pair of 3s from Max Christie, the Mavericks turned a four-point deficit into a five-point halftime lead. The fourth-year guard clocked out with 21 points and 5 of 12 from downtown.

Golden State rediscovered its stroke after intermission. It helped that Curry went off for 13 of the team’s 39 points in the third quarter, which the Warriors ended by outscoring the Mavericks 17-7.

But their streaky offense came back to bite them.

They went more than two and a half minutes without a point in the back half of the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, Dallas scored 11 straight, and Green committed a pair of fouls, including a flagrant 1. Green ultimately fouled out with 3:50 remaining with only 4 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists to his name.

Minutes before that, Mavericks big man Dwight Powell converted an and-1 despite bobbling a pass from Marshall, who rounded out the scoring spree by knifing through the paint for a layup.

Curry interrupted the Golden State dry spell by raining down another 3. He simply didn’t have enough help on Thursday, however.

The Warriors missed Butler, and eventually Kuminga as well.

Kuminga told ESPN he will see how his knee feels in the morning before deciding whether to have an MRI.