Jonathan Kuminga‘s restricted free agency saga was finally resolved on September 30, when the 23-year-old forward re-signed with the Warriors on a two-year, $46.8MM deal. Despite the lengthy negotiations and a contract that could make him a prime trade candidate, Kuminga tells Marc J. Spears of Andscape he’s “at peace” with his situation and doesn’t feel any anxiety about the future.
“I don’t think about things like that. I let the day just tell us what’s going to happen,” Kuminga said. “But when it comes to future stuff and things like that, no. I don’t worry about things like that. I just try to get better. You never know with this life. It’s the NBA. One day you’re going to be here. One day you’re going to be somewhere else.
“The biggest thing about it is just to work and just get better every day and be a winner. No matter where I’ll be, no matter if I’m going to be here or they might ship me somewhere else. I just want to get to wherever I’ll get, or be here and just be involved and win and impact right away. That is my biggest concern. I’m at that point now where I’ve got a couple years in now. So, I know what’s right and what is not right.”
Kuminga acknowledged some frustration with the way his role has fluctuated during his time with Golden State and said he doesn’t plan to bring the topic up with head coach Steve Kerr. For his part, Kerr still believes Kuminga can be an important piece for the Warriors, according to Spears.
“It’s been an interesting fit,” Kerr told Andscape. “He’s made it pretty clear that he wants the ball and an opportunity that a lot of his cohorts get and people that were drafted near him. And we weren’t able to offer that. We were a championship team. We won the title his rookie year (2021/22) and have been in the mix the last few years. So, it’s been tough. I respect the fact that he is competing and fighting in a set of circumstances that maybe isn’t ideal for him. But the thing I keep telling him is he can play a role for us, absolutely, with his size, speed and athleticism.
“He can play an important role on a very good team. He just turned 23 (on Monday). He has plenty of basketball ahead. One day, hopefully, he will look back on this as a valuable time in his career. But I know he’s frustrated. He’s made it very clear publicly. I don’t mind that, but I want him to embrace the idea that he can be a part of something special.”
Here’s more on the Warriors:
- As he enters his third season, guard Brandin Podziemski hopes to take major strides in multiple aspects of his game, writes Nick Friedell of The Athletic. In order to do so, Podziemski knows he’ll have to do a better job of regulating his emotions. “There’s a next step in evolving emotionally, and as a leader,” Podziemski told The Athletic. “Having confidence from your teammates is one thing, especially the vets, but them trusting you in big moments that could define their career. Could add another piece to their career. For them to have trust in you is a different thing, and you got to earn that over time, and I think that’s a goal of mine going into this season.”
- Veteran center Al Horford has quickly developed impressive chemistry with two-time MVP Stephen Curry, Friedell adds in another story. “It’s a level of awareness that I’ve never really had to think about before,” Horford said of playing with Curry. “But when I’m on the floor with him, the whole mindset is trying to make the game easier for him. And for me, that is either getting him the ball, or setting a good screen, or doing anything that I can to make sure that our offense moves and flows. He’s such a smart player that it’s easy to play off of him. And sometimes he’ll kind of tell you what to do. He passed me that ball, but I knew that he was gonna cut, so I guess that’s the unspoken (chemistry) he’s talking about right there. He expected me to pass the ball and I did.”
- Erik Spoelstra is expected to be named the new head coach of the United States’ men’s basketball team. Kerr believes USA Basketball made a great choice, per Kenzo Fukuda of Clutch Points (Twitter video link; hat tip to Kurt Helin of NBC Sports). “Spo’s an incredible, phenomenal coach. Watching him the last two summers, getting to know him up close… Spo was the perfect choice.”
Wow there aren’t 100 comments rehashing the same argument over and over yet.
Teams like the Dubs are just boring. If the ancient Ford pickups with 250k miles on them keep running for most of the season, they’ll be a pretty good team. If not, they’ll be bad. So what. Moving on.
Not sure what sort of basketball you like to watch but the Warriors’ style of play isn’t boring to me. I prefer the motion offense that they employ (and most teams have started to mimic/adopt portions of in their play).
Nothing in basketball is better than Steph on a heater, and then he does some dumb funny s*** like the night night and it gets even better!
Give it time, it won’t be long.
There definitely weren’t enough Dubs talking points this summer, justkidding. The usual cast of characters bantered and pondered more about Kuminga than the guy deserves. I was hoping he would get moved this summer. Dunleavy could REALLY wash his hands clean of the Meyers Era by packaging JK along with Moody and potentially even Draymond for a superstar/superstar-caliber player Steph desperately needs to seriously compete for chip #5. I’m curious to see how the current group does – but since this roster is so damn deep now, it feels like a big trade at some point in the next 9 or so months is inevitable.
“I just want to get to wherever I’ll get”
That pretty much says it all.
I was very disappointed in Kuminga the last few days. His 2nd preseason game he was not focused at all and made some very poor mistakes. Then at the fan open practice he sat on the bench and didn’t do anything. No shooting or fan interaction. It’s almost like he wants to force a trade in Jan.
I think it’s the worst kept secret that both sides are just waiting for a January trade
Looks like Kuminga wants out as soon as possible maybe with kings out of the playoffs they can get Murray and some bench players for Kuminga.
But certainly you’ve read assessments here that he’s a future can’t miss all nba bonafide pro who has been ruined by his coach and lack of opportunity?
Don’t drink the kool-aid from people here… if someone can consistently put up 20 points a night and play defense with effort, every NBA coach will consistently find minutes for him instead of splitting time with Gui Santos and Gary Payton Jr.
Maybe the veteran players on GSW aren’t especially good at translating their knowledge for younger players to absorb. Certainly GSW hasn’t developed their talent very well despite some very lucky breaks from the lottery. Probably some combination of all 3 of Kuminga, the veterans and the coach share the blame.
Either way, if it walks like a duck… you know the rest. The Warriors didn’t think he was worth much, the Kings thought he was worth Malik Monk and Devin Carter, and his own coach refuses to play him in the playoffs with minutes available and scoring desperately needed.
At some point acknowledging the external and consistent ongoing indicators of Kuminga’s value will be accurately reflected in discussions here. But until then you’ll have to hear people say he’s the backbone of a Giannis trade.
I’m sure the Kings offered the Bucks Malik Monk and Devin Carter for Giannis as well.
Warriors couldn’t make that trade because Monk makes more than Kuminga. Carter is not even loved by the kings. Nobody offered anything for Kuminga and he is not a 20 point a game player.
@ARC 2
“It’s almost like he wants to force a trade in Jan.”
Almost?
Podz thinking of himself as a leader is interesting.