{"id":416063,"date":"2026-01-16T04:00:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T04:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/416063\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T04:00:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T04:00:10","slug":"warriors-holding-him-hostage-former-nba-players-criticize-gsw-for-jonathan-kuminga-debacle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/416063\/","title":{"rendered":"“Warriors Holding Him Hostage”: Former NBA Players Criticize GSW For Jonathan Kuminga Debacle"},"content":{"rendered":"

As of this morning, Jonathan Kuminga<\/a> has become trade-eligible and has reportedly demanded a trade<\/a> away from the Golden State Warriors<\/a> following his relationship with Steve Kerr<\/a> being \u201cfractured beyond repair.\u201d <\/a><\/p>\n

According to reports, even the Warriors\u2019 veterans believe the best resolution now is for Kuminga to be traded before the deadline. As the front office is being forced into choosing between Kerr and Kuminga, some former NBA players are not happy with how the Warriors have handled the situation.<\/p>\n

Following the news about the trade demand, Isaiah Thomas<\/a> and Kendrick Perkins<\/a> voiced their opinions against the Warriors\u2019 treatment of Jonathan Kuminga.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe should!!! Warriors holding him hostage smh. Let the kid develop,\u201d wrote<\/a> Thomas on X.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan we address the elephant in the room? I\u2019m not talking about me, I\u2019m talking about this dysfunctional organization,\u201d said Perkins during his latest appearance on ESPN<\/a>. \u201cReal talk, when you talk about the Golden State Warriors, yes, we talk about a team that was a dynasty at a period in time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSince Bob Myers has left that organization, it has been nothing but dysfunctional. When you talk about the breakup with Klay Thompson, when you talk about this relationship between Steve Kerr and Jonathan Kuminga.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m starting to question their player development. The Warriors are doing a disservice to the most important player in the history of that organization, in Steph Curry, who, by the way, is averaging 28 points per game this season,\u201d Perkins further explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cDamn it, what are you going to do? What\u2019chu gonna do? Teams that are going to compete for the title are not just set up for the now, but they are set up for the future. The Golden State Warriors have no future outside of Steph Curry, so they have to get this right when it comes down to getting the right piece for Jonathan Kuminga.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just very embarrassing, and it\u2019s a big disappointment when it comes to addressing the situation with the Warriors,\u201d concluded Perkins.<\/p>\n

Kuminga reportedly has limited value in the trade market right now, and the Warriors are willing to keep him until next season<\/a> if they do not get significant pieces in exchange for him. Teams like the Mavericks<\/a> and the Lakers<\/a> have come up in rumors<\/a> as potential landing spots<\/a> for him.<\/p>\n

Steve Kerr openly admitted recently that the situation between the Warriors and Kuminga is unfortunate and difficult<\/a>, with no real winners on either side. Other NBA veterans recently have also voiced<\/a> their displeasure<\/a> with the Warriors\u2019 treatment of Kuminga.<\/p>\n

The last time Kuminga played was on the first night of consecutive games against the Suns in December, where he only had two points, four rebounds, and one assist in 10 minutes of action. He shot 1-5 from the field (20.0%) in that game and hasn\u2019t played in 13 games since.<\/p>\n

Before falling out of Kerr\u2019s minutes rotation, Kuminga was having an above-average season. He is currently averaging 11.8 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 2.6 assists after amassing several DNPs and not even getting on the court in garbage minutes.<\/p>\n

It will be interesting to see the final fruit of this situation for both sides, as the Warriors could end up picking up the team option on Kuminga, worth $24.3 million<\/a>, just so they can trade him next season and not let him go as a free agent if no resolution is found this season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As of this morning, Jonathan Kuminga has become trade-eligible and has reportedly demanded a trade away from the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":416064,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-416063","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=416063"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416063\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/416064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}