Jonathan Kuminga’s tone-deaf statement is why Warriors can’t trust him

The Golden State Warriors will enter Saturday's Game 3 against the Houston Rockets with home-court advantage on their side and the series tied 1-1. It remains to be seen if Jimmy Butler will be available, though.

Golden State's star swingman took a nasty spill in Game 2 after being unintentionally undercut by Houston's Amen Thompson. Butler took a hard fall on his back and suffered a "deep glute muscle contusion," per ESPN's Shams Charania. He has no structural damage, but it's a painful injury and he is "in serious jeopardy" of missing Game 3.

With Butler suddenly unavailable after eight minutes of action, Steve Kerr went to much-maligned fourth-year wing Jonathan Kuminga, who picked up a DNP-CD in Game 1. Kuminga has been trending out of the Dubs' rotation for a couple weeks now, with Kerr pointing to Butler's arrival as the catalyst for Kuminga's diminished role.

"I think what happened here is pretty obvious; I've talked about it. Jimmy Butler came in," Kerr told 95.7 The Game late in the regular season (h/t NBC Sports). "When JK was out, we traded for Jimmy and they play the same position. Our whole team changed."

Kuminga has mostly handled his latest demotion with grace, but this isn't the first time Kerr has been on a different page than his former No. 7 overall pick. Kuminga has seen his role fluctuate constantly over the years, and his latest comments to reporters are not what Warriors fans want to hear.

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Jonathan Kuminga sounds awfully irritated about 'stay ready' narrative on Warriors bench

"I hate the fact that everybody is telling me be ready, get ready," Kuminga said. "I already know that I’m ready. The more you keep telling me to get ready, it becomes kind of irritating.”

Kuminga's frustration is only human, but this statement does not instill confidence in an anxious fanbase. It reads as, well, frustration, more so than acceptance or motivation.

The 22-year-old, to his credit, spoke frankly with Sam Gordon of the San Francisco Chronicle about his attempts to bring "a good spirit" to the gym on a daily basis.

"I work out every day. I play with some of the guys here every other day and just try to have a good spirit every single day. The more my spirit is what I want, that’s how I stay ready."

He's working through it, which is fair. Kuminga, for all his warts, is in a unique position. Only a handful of teams are deep enough, or built in such a way to push him out of the rotation. He's an immensely gifted athlete and a former lottery pick who averaged 15.3 points per game this season. This is a tough partnership on both sides.

That said, for someone who is apparently "ready," Kuminga certainly did not look it in Wednesday's Game 2. He finished with 11 points on 4-of-12 shooting in 26 minutes, adding three rebounds, two assists, a steal and a turnover. He also made absent-minded mistakes like these a few too many times.

Kuminga has all the tools for success, but his motor tends to run cold and he doesn't possess the greatest feel for the game, which has always been a barrier to entry in Kerr's notoriously complex scheme.

The Warriors need Kuminga on his A-game if Butler is forced to miss time in this series, but it's unclear if fans can reasonably expect that given four years of inconsistent effort to date.