{"id":332597,"date":"2025-12-05T19:42:19","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T19:42:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/332597\/"},"modified":"2025-12-05T19:42:19","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T19:42:19","slug":"jonathan-kumingas-eventual-warriors-exit-is-being-shaped-right-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/332597\/","title":{"rendered":"Jonathan Kuminga\u2019s eventual Warriors exit is being shaped right now"},"content":{"rendered":"

Want more ways to catch up on the latest in Bay Area sports? Sign up for the Section 415 email newsletter here<\/a> and subscribe to the Section 415 podcast wherever you listen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It was right there for everybody to see in that frenzied Warriors fourth quarter in Philadelphia on Thursday \u2014 who was out there flying around, screaming at the crowd, and almost pulling this game out; and who was not.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been subtext for the last few weeks, really. But it\u2019s not subtext now.<\/p>\n

Pat Spencer, Gui Santos, Quinten Post, De\u2019Anthony Melton, Will Richard, and Buddy Hield were the main characters in this play-within-a-playoff-drive. <\/p>\n

Not all of them will stay in the main rotation once Stephen Curry (out for the road trip with a sore quad), Jimmy Butler (sore knee, might be back in the lineup Saturday in Cleveland), and Draymond Green (hurt his foot in the first half on Thursday) are healed up \u2014 and certainly not all of them deserve to. <\/p>\n

But it matters that they were out there almost winning this game while Jonathan Kuminga (-18 in the game) and Brandin Podziemski (-20) sat the entire fourth quarter and Moses Moody sat the final 9:13. <\/p>\n

It matters that Spencer, in particular, has looked good and earned more playing time as an aggressive playmaker since Curry\u2019s been out. And Melton, in his first game this season, looked very comfortable and valuable playing alongside Spencer or on his own as a driver and defender.<\/p>\n

It definitely matters that Kuminga, Podziemski, and Moody absolutely have not looked great and have lost fourth-quarter playing time since Curry\u2019s been out.<\/p>\n

Two games ago, Kerr went with Podziemski and chose not to stay with Spencer to ride out a late Warriors rally in an eventual loss to the Thunder and maybe lived to regret it; meanwhile, Kuminga didn\u2019t play a second in that Tuesday fourth quarter and Moody, as is now a trend, only played cameo crunch-time seconds.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s going on here? Let\u2019s stipulate that things can change swiftly and often do \u2014 just a few months ago Kuminga was playing with high energy and efficiency and was fully engaged in every way that Steve Kerr and the Hall of Fame veterans could want. It could bend that way again soon for Kuminga and for Podziemski and Moody, too.<\/p>\n

Kuminga and Moody are 23. Podziemski is 22. They all have done good things with the Warriors. They all have long careers ahead of them.<\/p>\n

But this season seems to have taken a major turn, especially for Kuminga, dating back to the Warriors\u2019 emotional back-to-back victories over the Spurs in San Antonio last month. That came right after a demoralizing blow-out loss in Oklahoma City and murmurings from Draymond and Butler that something was wrong that must be fixed.<\/p>\n

Pointedly, the Spurs victories came after Kuminga was moved out of the starting lineup; also, he hurt his knee in the first Spurs game and missed the next seven.<\/p>\n

\"ASince returning from a knee injury, Kuminga has scored a total of 27 points over three games.\u200b | Source: Mitchell Leff\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

In the three games since Kuminga returned, all with Curry out, he\u2019s scored 10, 8, and 9 points, shot 36.7%, and played a total of 54 minutes. He hasn\u2019t been terrible. He just hasn\u2019t been a focal point of anything, offensively and defensively, and that\u2019s expressly what the Warriors need when Curry and Butler are out. And expressly what Kuminga believes he should be doing for the Warriors.<\/p>\n

As Draymond said after the OKC game: Kuminga asked for this responsibility.<\/p>\n

2 days ago<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/a><\/p>\n

Tuesday, Nov. 25<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

Friday, Nov. 21<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

This is me, not Draymond: It feels more like late last season, when Kuminga was pulled from the rotation in the Warriors\u2019 biggest games, than any Kuminga partisan wants to see or acknowledge. <\/p>\n

We can add Podziemski and Moody into the broader discussion, but they\u2019re not the ones who went through a torturous negotiation last summer that produced a two-year, $48 million contract (only this year\u2019s $23.5 million guaranteed) built as a trade chip either at the February trade deadline or next offseason.<\/p>\n

Since it\u2019s a new deal, Kuminga can\u2019t be traded until Jan. 15. Which sets up the next five weeks as a typical period of heightened Warriors mid-season drama. <\/p>\n

Basically: the Warriors won\u2019t want to spend it losing leverage in this situation as it heads to a conclusion that was probably inevitable all along. Maybe inevitable since Kuminga\u2019s rookie season.<\/p>\n

The Warriors want to win games, they want Kuminga to maintain or increase his value, and they want to have the option to either trade him for something very good or to keep him and know he\u2019ll be a major plus into the spring.<\/p>\n

They don\u2019t want to get to Jan. 15 with the entire league knowing they need to trade away a disengaged Kuminga at rock-bottom prices.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the same for Moody. Maybe the same for Podziemski. But given their fits alongside Butler and Curry and relative low salary cost (at least until Podziemski comes up for a rookie extension next summer), I don\u2019t see either Moody or Podziemski getting traded this winter, unless they\u2019re throw-ins to complete a huge deal featuring Kuminga.<\/p>\n

Notably, Spencer is showing that he might be a better option than Podziemski as a lead guard when Curry is out, maybe with Melton as his main backcourt mate. But when Curry is playing, Podziemski probably is a better option as a secondary initiator most games. And, as Kerr has been mentioning frequently lately, Spencer is on a two-way deal and already is at 23 games toward the 50-game limit on the active roster.<\/p>\n

The Warriors just added Seth Curry to get to the maximum 15 full roster spots and they\u2019re hard-capped at the second apron with almost no wiggle room. The only ways they could add Spencer is if they expose themselves at center by waiving Trayce Jackson-Davis\u2019 deal before Jan. 10 when it guarantees for the full season (very unlikely), or they make a two-for-one, three-for-one, or four-for-one trade to open space.<\/p>\n

The way this is going, it\u2019s very doubtful the Warriors could get into any developing talks for Giannis Antetokounmpo. They just don\u2019t have enough firepower, even though I\u2019ve heard Milwaukee had at least some interest in Kuminga last offseason.<\/p>\n

\"\"Kuminga\u2019s restricted free agency dragged throughout the summer before he ultimately agreed to a two-year deal with the Warriors. | Source: Amber Pietz\/The Standard<\/p>\n

But the Warriors can also see what else is out there as teams jockey for Giannis and deal with any kinds of side effects of such a massive undertaking.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think the Warriors will just give Kuminga away, though. Maybe they should \u2014 just move his money to pick up a veteran like the 34-year-old CJ McCollum, who should be playing more meaningful basketball in the final years of his career than anything happening with the Wizards. But I doubt Joe Lacob wants to sell that low.<\/p>\n

So what will the Warriors do? I think it\u2019s up to Kuminga at this point, not Kerr, not the veterans, or anybody else. <\/p>\n

Should Kerr be this tough on Kuminga in particular? Kuminga told me earlier this season \u2014 granted, when things were better for him \u2014 that he wants Kerr to coach him hard<\/a>, that he\u2019s told Kerr that he wants to hear directly if he makes a mistake.<\/p>\n

If Kuminga can\u2019t break through, that\u2019s more about him than it is about Kerr or his system, in my opinion. Just like Spencer\u2019s ascendance is about him and his play, not about Kerr.<\/p>\n

After Thursday\u2019s game, Kerr logically said that it was a one-time situation that broke for Spencer, Santos, and the other third-string closers, and that any other time it could be Kuminga, Moody, and Podziemski playing all the crunch-time minutes.<\/p>\n

Which makes sense. It\u2019s what a coach should say. Kerr will need Kuminga, Moody, Podziemski, and everybody else at points this season. But Kuminga, Podziemski, and Moody aren\u2019t random players anymore. This roster is not built for that. Kuminga and Moody are being paid well. Podziemski is coming up on restricted free agency that, by every signal, he expects to deliver him large money.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re all supposed to be major, permanent parts of the every-game journey \u2014 when Curry and Butler are playing, and even more when they\u2019re out.<\/p>\n

It can\u2019t be all about setting up everything perfectly for them. That\u2019s the argument by the Kuminga partisans, that this system needs to adjust to him, not the other way. But no, that\u2019s just not how it works in the NBA hierarchy. You have to make it work for you, or you\u2019re just another role player. And it\u2019s good that Kuminga definitely doesn\u2019t consider himself a role player. He just has to prove it.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s still up to Kuminga. It\u2019s not up to anybody else. Even on his way out, it\u2019s up to him.<\/p>\n

His exit is coming, whether it\u2019s this winter or in the summer, and he\u2019ll be better off when it happens. How much better off will the Warriors be?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Want more ways to catch up on the latest in Bay Area sports? Sign up for the Section…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":332598,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[2243,6422,355,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-332597","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-golden-state-warriors","9":"tag-jonathan-kuminga","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=332597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332597\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/332598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=332597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=332597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=332597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}