Jonathan Kuminga found his way back into the Warriors’ rotation after they lost Jimmy Butler to a season-ending ACL injury. This happened despite Kuminga requesting a trade as a result of his fallout with Steve Kerr and his coaching staff.
He had 20 points, five rebounds, two assists, and one steal in the Warriors’ 127-145 loss to the Raptors last night. The Warriors’ young forward had an efficient night, shooting 7-10 from the field (70.0%).
Subsequently, DeMarcus Cousins, the former Warriors player, appeared on FanDuel’s ‘Run It Back’ show, where he called out Steve Kerr, singling him out as the cause for what Kerr described as a “difficult situation”. He strongly criticized his former head coach and held him accountable for his actions.
“Everything about this situation is just wrong. It’s bad, and it’s unprofessional. I do want to start by saying I commend the young fella, Kuminga, for the way he’s handled this situation. You’ve done it professionally. You’ve done it with grace, and you’ve done it respectfully.”
“So, with all that being said, I commend you for that. This situation with Steve is just continuing to get weirder by the day. It’s almost like it’s a personal issue at this point.”
“Like Chandler just said, Jimmy is now out for the season, and even with that, he still found a way to make Kuminga be the last person to come off the bench. It literally makes no sense.”
“And I think we just should start paying attention to the history because, for some reason, when it comes to the players, it’s always easy to bring up their history. Anything negative in their history is the first thing brought up. So, let’s bring it up.”
“We’ve watched him with Team USA find a way to not have minutes for Jayson Tatum. We’re talking about Jayson Tatum. We are. Sure, we swept that under the rug.”
“The draft process with Anthony Edwards. He overlooked the talent. He had every excuse in the book as to why he felt Anthony Edwards wasn’t it. Same thing with LaMelo. Now we’re looking at this with Kuminga.”
“It’s situation after situation after situation where he’s continuing to downplay young talent, and we’re now fast-forwarding to this situation, and once again, we’re overlooking it and kind of sweeping it under the rug.”
“Like something has to be said, something has to be done as far as why these type situations continue to happen under the watch of Steve Kerr when it comes to young talent. So, I just don’t like that part of this.”
“I just feel more awareness needs to be brought, more light needs to be shed on the situation, and it shouldn’t just be where we’re looking at the player.”
The Warriors have repeatedly missed out on quality young talent, which Cousins now attributes to Steve Kerr’s errors in judgment. He seems to believe that Kerr still has too much faith in his veteran talent and repeatedly refuses to give young talent a fair shot.
“I don’t think Steph wants to throw Steve Kerr under the bus,” Cousins further added on why Stephen Curry hasn’t said anything about Kuminga.
We could now be looking at a possible scenario where Kerr is not with the Warriors next season, and considering how much Joe Lacob loves Jonathan Kuminga and still cheers for his success, he could stay with the team despite demanding a trade.
If Steve Kerr is leaving, then we tip our hats to his career and bid him farewell. But if he stays, then the franchise needs to also consider how to deal with this unearthed bias against young talent. Butler’s injury has given the Warriors serious problems that they need to solve now.
Joe Lacob could be the deciding factor here for the Warriors, as it now seems the upper management of the franchise is in a stalemate situation. Even during the summer, there were reports that he is a big supporter of Kuminga and wants to keep him with the franchise.
Mike Dunleavy, the Warriors’ GM, seemingly indicated that there is currently no demand for Kuminga, and they are in no rush to move Jimmy Butler either. His comments appeared to make Kuminga’s representation very unhappy.
But if the Warriors can convert Butler’s contract in a trade for a player like Michael Porter Jr., then it would put Kuminga and Lacob in a tough situation. Cousins emphasized that he feels the chances of Butler getting traded are slim but not impossible.
Assuming Kerr leaves next season, Kuminga has a higher probability of considering staying long term with the Warriors if they trade Butler and regain his trust by offering him regular rotation minutes, if not a starter role directly.
The Warriors need to seriously consider the best steps to move forward that will equip Stephen Curry’s roster with what it needs to contend for a title currently, and whether that comes at the cost of their long-term future or not.
