SAN FRANCISCO – Warriors coach Steve Kerr has spent the previous two months hanging a diplomatic tone.
He has emphasised that he enjoys teaching Jonathan Kuminga – the topic of a prolonged summertime contract negotiation that noticed the fifth-year ahead’s agent publicly criticize Kerr’s teaching strategies earlier than serving to Kuminga signal a two-year, $46 million deal – and sees him as an integral a part of the crew.
As Kuminga’s position and minutes have fluctuated, each Kerr and Kuminga have tried to persuade the world that each side are all-in on making the uneasy partnership work.
However sitting within the interview room after Wednesday’s observe, Kerr, for the primary time this season, acknowledged the likelihood that Kuminga might be traded after Jan. 15.
“You’d have to ask him, you know, for his feelings,” Kerr stated. “I can imagine it’s not easy for him, and we’ve talked about the situation. My desire for JK is for him to become the best player he can possibly be, regardless of where he ends up, whether its here or elsewhere.”
After not taking part in a single minute throughout Sunday’s sport in Chicago, Kuminga instructed reporters that he and Kerr had a great relationship, and that he was simply glad to see the crew win.
Kerr echoed that sentiment, and in addition took blame for the way the scenario – one which seems hurtling inevitably towards a commerce – has unfolded.
It’s the mixtures, the match, all that stuff has been happening for just a few years, and I’m not going to shrink back from that. I believe it’s fairly apparent,” Kerr stated. “I do feel for him, that he has been sort of at the whim of my decision-making based on, you know, what I want to see out there from our team.”
After a stellar preseason, one the place Kuminga defended and handed with gusto and usually performed the best way Kerr needed the athletic wing to, he was a fixture within the beginning lineup.
However whereas being within the first 5 for the crew’s preliminary dozen video games, Kuminga’s stage of play deteriorated. He fell into outdated habits, holding the ball and taking ill-advised photographs. However the Warriors additionally noticed Steph Curry and Al Horford miss time throughout that stretch.
Golden State Warriors’ Jonathan Kuminga, proper, drives in opposition to Cleveland Cavaliers’ Jaylon Tyson, left, through the first half of an NBA basketball sport in Cleveland, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025. (AP Photograph/Phil Lengthy)
Kuminga was taken out of the beginning lineup through the thirteenth sport in San Antonio, and was felled with knee harm that sidelined him for seven video games. Since returning, Kuminga has shot below 30% from the sphere, and was a wholesome scratch for Chicago.
Now, Kuminga’s days with the crew that drafted him No. 7 total in 2021 look like numbered, one thing Kerr emphasised was regular.
“I tell my guys a lot, there are so few players who end up playing for one team their entire career,” Kerr stated. “It rarely happens. I played for six different teams. None of us know what’s going to happen with JK, or pretty much any of our guys.”
Kerr stated it was a standard a part of NBA life.
“Its a really weird league and weird business to be in,” Kerr stated. “You have to fully commit to the team that you’re playing for, knowing full well that team may trade you or cut you. That’s a really hard thing to reconcile as a player, but the sooner guys can recognize it, the better. The guys who end up playing for a long time sort of figure that out, and they understand that.”
Whether or not or not Kuminga, who’s averaging 12.4 factors per sport, is traded is lower than the coach, although Kerr famous that he does have enter on roster strikes.
“(General manager) Mike (Dunleavy) and I are totally aligned, and he’s great at his job, and whatever decisions he makes, he will include me in the discussions, but it’s not my job,” Kerr stated. “It’s his decision ultimately, and we both respect that.”
The Warriors’s subsequent sport is on Friday in opposition to Minnesota, the crew Kuminga torched in final 12 months’s playoffs.
Kerr didn’t rule out the opportunity of Kuminga taking part in.
“He had a great practice today, and we had a talk before practice, and he did the things I asked him to do and was I was thrilled about that,” Kerr stated. “I think there’s a lot of young players, not just JK, lots of young players around the league who have to find themselves and figure out who they are as a player.”
Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr retains an eye fixed on the sport in opposition to the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder within the third quarter on the Chase Heart in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, Dec. 2, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Space Information Group)
