The Golden State Warriors are in the middle of another rough stretch, and once again the spotlight has fallen on Jonathan Kuminga. As the team searches for answers during its latest losing skid, frustration is growing behind the scenes, particularly from Kuminga’s camp. According to Anthony Slater of The Athletic, the young forward feels like he is being singled out as the problem whenever things go wrong.
“The Warriors lost five of their next seven. Kuminga’s turnovers spiked and his performance dipped. Searching for rotation answers, Kerr demoted Kuminga back to a bench role, reopening old wounds. ‘He feels like the scapegoat again,’ one team source said.”
After a hot start this season, the Warriors have come crashing down to earth with a particularly brutal stretch that has them eighth in the West at 9-8. With the team reeling, Steve Kerr recently decided to move Kuminga to the bench, creating major uncertainty about his role moving forward.
Of course, the young swingman has experienced this pattern before. When the Warriors struggle, he often becomes the first player to be removed from the starting lineup or see his minutes cut. That tendency has created tension over the past two seasons, especially as Kuminga has developed into one of the team’s most promising young pieces.
Over the summer, their relationship was pushed to the limit amid a contract standoff that lasted months. Kuminga reluctantly returned on a two-year, $46.8 million deal, but the same lingering issues persist.
At 23 years old, Kuminga wants and deserves a chance to play a bigger role. He got a small glimpse of that early this season, but he has since been demoted, and his numbers are down across the board at 13.8 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 2.8 assists per game on 47.8 percent shooting.
The problem is that the Warriors do not have time to let him play through mistakes. At 37 years old, Steph Curry wants to win now, and there is not much time left to capitalize on his talents. It puts Kuminga in a difficult position where he is not allowed to develop the way he should.
For a Warriors roster caught between eras, the situation highlights how difficult it has been to balance youth development with the demands of winning. Kuminga wants a stable role and the trust that comes with it, but Golden State’s inconsistency has made that difficult to secure.
Ultimately, with so much history between Kuminga and the Warriors, every small grievance threatens to destabilize the entire locker room. Win or lose, the more games Kuminga spends on the bench, the more resentful he will become.
To avoid disaster, the Warriors will need everyone to buy in and set aside their own agendas for the sake of the team. That includes Kuminga, who has already surfaced as a top trade candidate this February.
In the end, Golden State’s season depends on finding stability, and that will only happen if every player feels valued and aligned with the team’s goals. Kuminga’s frustration is understandable, but the Warriors need him locked in if they want to stay competitive in a tightly packed Western Conference. How both sides handle this stretch could determine whether the partnership survives or reaches a breaking point by February.
