Subscribe
Follow Us
Before the Golden State Warriors found themselves a game away from taking down the 2-seed in the first round of the playoffs and before they ever thought about trading for Jimmy Butler at the trade deadline, Jonathan Kuminga was the player this organization was enamored with. While the organization was high on his development, failed contract negotiations between the two parties raised eyebrows around the league.
It is no secret to anyone that owner Joe Lacob and those close to him love Kuminga's upside, which is why they envision him being a long-term building block. However, contract talks went nowhere, and the 22-year-old entered the season on an expiring rookie contract.
Regardless of what those outside the organization said about his future, Steve Kerr and the Warriors' brain trust remained committed to Kuminga.
“We want JK here for the long haul,” Kerr said near the start of the season. “Obviously, I want him to have a great year and put himself in a position next summer where we agree to a contract. I want one that he is thrilled with and we are happy with as well… If you just look at JK's arc of development, he is dramatically better now than he was three years ago.”
At the start of his fourth season in the league, Kuminga proved Kerr right. With the team hoping for a breakout campaign, Kuminga got off to a fast start, establishing himself as the Warriors' second-best scoring option next to Stephen Curry in terms of hunting his own shots and getting to the rim. He scored at least 10 points in 10 of his first 11 games, and he went on to average over 30 minutes per game in December.
This was the best month of Kuminga's young career, as he recorded back-to-back 34-point games before the calendar flipped to 2025, and he was an every-night starter for Kerr despite constant lineup and rotation changes. Unfortunately for the emerging forward, a severe ankle sprain he suffered at the start of January threw his great season off the tracks.
Kuminga did not return until the middle of March. By then, he was no longer viewed as an essential part of Golden State's hot streak.
When Butler entered the fold, he instilled new confidence and energy. The focus in San Francisco rapidly shifts from just making the playoffs to possibly contending for a title. Where Kuminga fit into all of this was the greatest question looming large for Golden State, and he ended up being the odd man out with Butler filling his role.
Despite falling out of the rotation and being benched at the end of the regular season, the Warriors have consistently shut down all negative connotations surrounding Kuminga. Even Butler made it clear that he would take the young forward under his wing and try to aid in his development.
After Butler was acquired, Lacob spoke with The Athletic in an exclusive interview, and he made it abundantly clear that trading for Jimmy and then signing him to an extension doesn't change the organization's view of Kuminga in the slightest. The mindset of keeping Kuminga long-term had not changed.
“Absolutely. One hundred percent,” Lacob firmly stated regarding the Warriors being committed to paying Kuminga. “Are you kidding me? I love that guy. We love him.”
There have never been any ill feelings from anyone in the organization towards Kuminga, league sources told ClutchPoints. Although there have been times when his future has been questioned by several front-office members, Golden State has always believed that he could develop into a two-way star on the wing as a result of his length and athleticism.
Even though Kerr and the forward don't see eye-to-eye all the time, there has always been a strong respect for one another, and Kuminga has taken pride in staying ready for his time to shine.
Kuminga has always shown flashes of his long-term potential with the ball in his hands on offense. He can push the tempo in transition and put the ball down in order to get to the rim. Ultimately, that can't always happen when Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, and Butler are in the game.
Golden State's offense tends to flow through Green at the top of the arc, and Kerr wants the focus scorers of the team to be Steph and Jimmy. That leaves Kuminga as the potential fourth option in this scenario. Since he isn't a catch-and-shoot threat, his fit has come into question when the Warriors could instead turn to shooting options like Brandin Podziemski, Moses Moody, and Buddy Hield, who can provide jolts of energy in any role.
The bottom line is that Kuminga isn't that type of player, as he needs the ball to be successful. Believe it or not, he's actually worse in terms of efficiency and spacing when playing next to the Warriors stars rather than taking control of the offense himself. Whereas some players thrive playing off star players, that is not the case here.
This has led to an awkward position for Kuminga with restricted free agency approaching in July.
So far in the first round of the playoffs against the Rockets, Kuminga has played only two times. He scored 11 points off the bench in Game 2 when Butler went down with his pelvic injury, and the young forward scored seven points in Game 3 without Butler. Kuminga finished both games with a negative plus-minus, and he has not played since the third game in San Francisco.
Essentially, Kuminga has been relegated to a role where he only sees the court in the unique situation of Butler or Green getting injured. Even with the Warriors needing size against a bigger and stronger Rockets team, Kerr has elected to play rookie Quinten Post and Gui Santos over Kuminga. Gary Payton II has also seen more run time in the frontcourt instead of Kuminga.
No matter how many times the Warriors mention Kuminga as an X-factor on their bench and claim he's ready when his number is called, his confidence has been shattered. Golden State is not playing him because Kerr and his staff aren't sure if they can trust him in the same lineups as Curry, Butler, and Green.
As a result, Kuminga's future is very much a topic of discussion that looms large in the background of the Warriors' current playoff success.
Want more of this content? Sign up for ClutchPoints' daily NBA newsletter now!
Will Warriors utilize Jonathan Kuminga in playoffs?
The Rockets have a lot of size and athleticism on their roster. With their course of attack centered on attacking the paint, rebounding, and pushing the pace in transition, it seemed inevitable that the Warriors would turn to Kuminga at some point in this first-round series against Houston.
Kuminga even had some of his best performances of the season against the Rockets. In their first meeting of the regular season in November, Kuminga scored 23 points in a 127-121 overtime win. He then had 33 points and seven rebounds against Houston in December, followed by a 20-point performance against them in the NBA Cup quarterfinals.
It was very clear that his ability to score in the paint and rebound were key factors that contributed to Golden State's success against the Rockets.
However, Kuminga hasn't been utilized in the playoffs by Kerr other than when Butler went down with his injury and missed almost all of Game 2, followed by sitting out Game 3 in San Francisco. When he did check into the game to try and fill Butler's role, Kuminga struggled to score and was a liability at times when it came to defensive rotations.
When the regular season ended and the Warriors earned their playoff spot via the play-in tournament, Kerr spoke to 95.7 The Game in San Francisco about why Kuminga had fallen out of the rotation.
“I have to read what we need. I have to read who's playing well together, and to be very frank, the Jimmy/JK combination has not been great, and that's the tricky part here,” Kerr stated. “And I'm playing Jimmy 40 minutes a night because Jimmy is, he's one of the very best players in the league. And there's a reason we're here and we're the seventh seed.
“And the reason is Jimmy, and so my job as a coach is to keep the team on a path that I think gives us the best chance to win. And for now, that's why I've been leaning into the lineups that I have.”
This certainly wasn't the words of encouragement Kuminga wanted to hear after being benched at the end of the regular season, as he hasn't done anything wrong. Kuminga has always been open to accepting different roles to better his team, and the 22-year-old is always working on his offensive approach. Before and after games, he's always looking to get shots up and spends a lot of time working on his footwork.
Despite being out of Kerr's rotation, Kuminga has patiently waited for his opportunity to prove his worth in the playoffs. He stepped up and tried to do his best when Butler was sidelined, yet his best didn't fit the way the Warriors wanted to play. Although Kuminga probably would've played off the bench in the team's blowout loss to Houston in Game 5, he was unavailable due to a migraine.
Kerr did tell reporters on Thursday that Kuminga was doing better and would be available for Game 6 on Friday night. Then again, it's hard to imagine he will be thrust into the rotations out of nowhere in another closeout scenario for Golden State.
If there aren't any minutes for Kuminga in a series against the Rockets, is there reason to believe he would see time if the Dubs were to advance and play the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference semifinals? In three games against Minnesota during the regular season, Kuminga averaged 14.7 points and 4.3 rebounds per game while shooting 38.1 percent from the floor.
It has become abundantly clear that Kerr and the Warriors view Kuminga as a liability on the floor next to Butler, Curry, and Green, which doesn't bode well for his long-term outlook with the organization.
Want more of this content? Sign up for ClutchPoints' daily NBA newsletter now!
Warriors facing key offseason contract decision
The main reason Kerr and the Warriors aren't utilizing Kuminga is because they don't believe he fits in next to Butler.
Before the trade for Butler was made, Kuminga was an essential part of the Warriors' success. Without his contributions during the first half of the season, Golden State may not be in the playoff position they are today.
The Warriors have always believed in Kuminga. They took a chance on him as a high-potential, athletic forward in the 2021 NBA Draft instead of players like Franz Wagner, Alperen Sengun, Trey Murphy III, and Jalen Johnson, who would've fit their system better. That is why giving up on Kuminga and letting him leave for nothing in the offseason isn't an option.
Lacob would never approve of letting the forward walk away for nothing, which raises questions about what will happen when free agency rolls around.
As a result of his ankle injury and the addition of Butler, Kuminga's value to the Warriors has dropped significantly.
Those conversations from the offseason about him being a player who could potentially make $30 million or more per season aren't a true reality for Golden State. It is hard to imagine Dunleavy and the front office would want to offer him around $25 million per season on a new contract based on his role.
Perhaps Kerr and the Warriors' staff will figure something out to integrate Kuminga better, but speculation around the league continues to point in the direction of the two parting ways in the summer. Kuminga doesn't view himself as an understudy and wants the opportunity to prove that he can impact winning, sources said. That no longer appears to be something he can do with the Warriors.
Three options now exist for the Warriors pertaining to Kuminga's future. The first is that they could agree on a team-friendly deal that allows Kuminga to continue growing. In this scenario, a clear vision for how Kerr would utilize him next to the team's star players heading into the 2025-26 season would need to be presented.
Then there is the idea of simply cutting their losses altogether and letting Kuminga go in free agency. This is a scenario Lacob wouldn't approve of, as the Warriors drafted Kuminga seventh overall and have spent so much time in his development on both ends of the floor. Letting Kuminga walk in free agency would be yet another instance of Golden State admitting failure on a high draft pick like they did with James Wiseman.
The third option, which is the most believable at this juncture, is that the Warriors and Dunleavy will work with Kuminga to find a team willing to accept a sign-and-trade. This is the most likely scenario involving Kuminga entering the offseason, as he no longer fits the team's agenda with Butler around.
Outside of Lacob and those close to him, the general consensus surrounding the Warriors is that Kuminga's time with the organization is coming to an end.
So, what teams would even be interested in the dynamic and athletic forward?
One team always mentioned as a potential suitor for Kuminga is the Brooklyn Nets. When the Warriors held extensive trade conversations with the Nets, ultimately leading to their acquisition of Dennis Schroder in December, Cam Johnson was on Golden State's radar, sources said.
However, the Nets were not too fond of parting ways with Johnson, and Brooklyn made it clear the discussions would need to start with Kuminga.
At the time, the Warriors held zero interest in trading Kuminga, sources said. That is why trade conversations for Johnson never gained any significant traction. Johnson and center Nic Claxton are the only two players on the Nets' roster that would be of use to Golden State in the offseason if there was a sign-and-trade possibility involving Kuminga.
Another team that league sources indicated as one keeping a close eye on Kuminga over the last year is the Chicago Bulls. After letting DeMar DeRozan go to the Sacramento Kings last offseason and then trading Zach LaVine to Sacramento this season, the Bulls have reshuffled their roster.
This team is now led by Josh Giddey, who is entering restricted free agency like Kuminga, and former seventh pick Coby White. The Bulls are expected to be very active this offseason and will be open to discussing trade opportunities surrounding any of their players, especially veteran center Nikola Vucevic. Golden State held extension trade conversations with Chicago about Vucevic this season, sources said.
Outside of Vucevic, there are a few different players who would make sense as possible trade targets in a Kuminga deal. Patrick Williams is an athletic 23-year-old forward with two-way potential, similar to Kuminga, and he is on a team-friendly contract. Then again, injuries have been a problem for him early on in his career, which has stunted his growth in Chicago.
Ayo Dosunmu is another intriguing name previously brought up as a Warriors trade target before this season's deadline. The 6-foot-5 combo guard is entering the final year of his rookie contract, and his future with the Bulls is uncertain since the team has expressed interest in keeping both Giddey and White. The possibility of pursuing an experienced guard like Lonzo Ball, given his two-way abilities when healthy, also exists.
The Miami Heat are also known to hold interest in Kuminga. When the Warriors and Heat engaged in preliminary Butler trade discussions in December, Miami coveted Kuminga, sources said. Golden State had zero intentions of trading Kuminga for Butler. As a result, those first trade conversations fell apart.
Once Miami was willing to salvage any value they could for Butler, a deal was made involving Andrew Wiggins and others at the trade deadline.
No matter what teams are potentially interested in Kuminga this summer, his value has declined drastically. The Warriors can no longer dictate his worth, and his lack of playing time in the playoffs speaks volumes to what Kerr thinks about the young forward's future.
If he can't contribute right now against the Rockets and potentially the Timberwolves in the next round, it would be a waste for the Warriors to invest eight figures or more for Kuminga. Despite being only 22 and still possessing a lot of potential, Kuminga's time with Golden State appears to be heading toward a point of no return.
Want more of this content? Sign up for ClutchPoints' daily NBA newsletter now!
