Golden State Warriors' Jonathan Kuminga (00) goes uopfor a dunk in front of Denver Nuggets' Nikola Jokic (15) in the first quarter of a NBA game at Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
SAN FRANCISCO — Jonathan Kuminga said he got what he wanted out of his conversation with Warriors coach Steve Kerr on Friday.
Both parties were feeling better after frustration boiled over about Kuminga’s playing time following the Warriors’ 130-127 heartbreaking loss to the Denver Nuggets on Thursday.
Friday night, after Kuminga played a game-high 36 minutes in the Warriors’ 113-109 win over the Detroit Pistons, the 21-year-old said he and Kerr have patched things up.
“There’s no beef,” he said. “We move on with better understanding, hoping we all can work with each other and help this team, and leave everything in the past.”
It must be music to Kerr’s ears after he woke up on Friday to a story in The Athletic that said Kuminga has “lost faith in his coach.”
The story quoted “sources close to Kuminga” that said Kuminga “no longer believes Kerr will allow him to reach his full potential,” adding that the Warriors’ loss on Thursday, when Kuminga sat the bench for the entire fourth quarter, was “the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
Kerr responded by sitting down for a chat with Kuminga on Friday.
“Obviously, those things are better discussed behind the scenes,” Kerr said. “Anytime something like that goes public it creates a distraction. I think it’s important for all of our guys, and I talked to our whole team about this, ‘you got an issue? I’m here. I’m the most accessible coach in the league, probably. My door is always open.’”
Kuminga said it was important to clear the air.
“I think it went really well,” he said. “I never complained about playing time or things like that. We were just talking about, if I do great at something, I should go back and remind him and let him know, ‘OK, coach, what do I need to do to get better at this? What do I need to do to gain more trust or get more minutes?'”
According to The Athletic, Kuminga was frustrated by his playing time on Thursday, when he finished with 16 points and a team-high plus-6 in 19 minutes.
Despite playing well, he was subbed out for Andrew Wiggins with 5:48 remaining in the third quarter and never went back in. With Kuminga on the bench, the Warriors retook the lead and went ahead 107-94 to the end the third quarter, but blew it in a disastrous fourth quarter that ended when Nikola Jokic hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Asked on Friday about his decision not to play Kuminga in the fourth, Kerr expressed some regret.
“It came down to sticking with Wiggs because I thought he was doing a good job,” Kerr said. “At the end of the game I looked at the box score and I’m like, ‘JK only played 19 minutes – I got to get him out there for longer.’”
Steph Curry said he empathized with Kuminga’s situation, but agreed with Kerr that “there are ways to express it, ways to voice your opinion but protect the team.”
Still, Curry thought Kuminga was right, that he should’ve been on the floor in the fourth quarter on Thursday.
“I’ve been there before,” Curry said. “He’s not wrong in being upset, pissed off, wanting to play. He probably should’ve played. Not probably.”
One big challenge for Kuminga is that Kerr hasn’t been able to find opportunities for both Kuminga and Wiggins to stay on the floor together, noting that it messes up the spacing. He said he’d love to experiment with that combination, “but we’re still trying to win so we don’t have a long time to explore if something is not going well.”
“I spoke to coach about me playing with Wiggs, and I don’t want it to seem like me and Wiggs are out here every day fighting for minutes,” Kuminga said. “I know Wiggs doesn’t come to work every day thinking about that. Same as me, I don’t want to come to work every day thinking I have to take Wiggs minutes, I have to take this guy’s minutes…
“I think moving forward, it’s really all about what the team needs first and then concern about the rest after.”
Kerr said he’s used to players getting frustrated by playing time.
“I played for 15 years and in all 15 I was frustrated with my playing time,” he said. “This is how it works. This is the most competitive, lucrative league in the world. Every team has 15-17 guys who are all dying to play. Everyone is frustrated. So a big part of being successful in this league is learning how to navigate the frustration.”
With the NBA trade deadline on Feb. 8, the Warriors have about a month left to figure things out. Kuminga made it clear that he loves playing for the Warriors.
“There’s always ups and downs,” he said. “I feel like when you look all the ups and downs, that’s when it starts confusing a lot of people. I know Steve believes in me. I know he trusts me.”
Originally published at Jason Mastrodonato