The Golden State Warriors are officially in the playoffs, having beaten the Memphis Grizzlies in the NBA Play-In Tournament, securing the No. 7 seed and a first-round matchup with the Houston Rockets. They're hoping to start a deep run with a big upset, but it's not clear what role, if any, Jonathan Kuminga will play in this hypothetical.
Kuminga is healthy but did not play in either of the Warriors last two games — an important overtime loss against the Clippers on the final day of the regular season and the Play-In matchup with Memphis. He hadn't played more than 30 minutes in a game since Dec. 30 and hadn't broken 20 minutes in four of his last six games before the pair of DNP-coach's decisions.
Steve Kerr offered a fairly benign explanation, per NBC Sports, for why Kuminga's role had been reduced, but one that didn't really address him being removed from the rotation entirely
"Mostly, I feel for JK, because I like him. He's been here for four years, he's a talented guy. Sometimes things go in a different direction. I think what happened here is pretty obvious; I've talked about it. Jimmy Butler came in. When JK was out, we traded for Jimmy and they play the same position. Our whole team changed. We became an ISO team with Jimmy. Movement with Steph [Curry] and iso with Jimmy. Jimmy is one of the best players in the league, so it's not as simple as just saying, 'Oh, OK we'll just play them together.' Basketball doesn't work that way."
Kuminga was repeatedly mentioned in trade rumors around the February deadline, but the Warriors ultimately opted to keep him, despite this obvious overlap with the newly acquired Butler. He will be a restricted free agent this offseason, giving Golden State the option to match any offer sheet he receives. However, the writing appears to be on the wall and The Athletic's Tim Kawakami has said that it's 'unlikely' he's on the team next year.
The Warriors have done well in a difficult situation to cobble together a supporting cast for Steph Curry that has a plausible chance of winning a playoff series or two. But it's worth remembering that many of the challenges they faced in doing that were challenges of their own making, and Jonathan Kuminga is a perfect example.
The Warriors passed on several future stars to draft Jonathan Kuminga
The Warriors took Kuminga with the No. 7 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, a pick which they had acquired from the Minnesota Timberwolves, along with Andrew Wiggins, in a deal for D'Angelo Russell. They also had their own pick, which landed at No. 16, where they took Moses Moody.
At the time, they were working from their much touted and terribly executed "two timelines" plan — looking for immediate help around Steph Curry while simultaneously trying to building for the future. Moody was seen as the more NBA-ready prospect, a plug-and-play 3-and-D wing, while Kuminga was the upside play — a raw but hyper-athletic forward who spent his one post high-school year with the now defunct G League Ignite showcase team.
Moody has at least been a reliable rotation piece this year, but it took him four years to get there, and he definitely wasn't a plug-and-play option. Kuminga was better than expected right off the bat but has seen his role and minutes yo-yo dramatically over his four seasons.
Hindsight is 20/20, but you can argue that the Warriors missed with both picks in a huge way. Franz Wagner went No. 8, one pick after Kuminga. Below Moody, players like Alperen Şengün, Trey Murphy III, Jalen Johnson and Quentin Grimes were all available. The Warriors would be in an infinitely better position right now with any one of those players instead of Kuminga or Moody, but the fact that they could have done better with both picks makes your brain hurt.
The Warriors did a terrible job of developing Jonathan Kuminga
There is no guarantee that a different approach to Kuminga's development could have yielded a different outcome. But the fact that things were constantly changing and neither team nor player seemed happy is a meaningful indictment of the process.
It seems like at least once every season he's been on the Warriors, there was a point when his minutes were inexplicably cut, and his public frustration leaked. Kerr, for his part, always publicly seemed supportive of Kuminga and his future with the team. But he was never able to convince Kuminga of that or coax him to a level of play that allowed him to actually stay in the rotation in a steadily growing role.
The Warriors have a long track record of getting key contributions from players who had a hard time fitting elsewhere — putting guys in the best position to succeed and helping them be the best version of themselves. Kuminga clearly shares some responsibility for his own stagnation, but the Warriors have been trying for four years and haven't been able to get him where they need him to be. Which brings us to the last point.
The Warriors didn't trade Jonathan Kuminga when they had the chance
The Warriors have had multiple opportunities to trade Kuminga, but they have held onto him through last offseason and the last two trade deadlines. You can understand their thinking that even in a smaller role he was probably more useful than other possible deadline acquisitions like Khris Middleton, Kyle Kuzma, Brandon Ingram or De'Andre Hunter.
But the fact remains that he's still on the roster and, by all appearances, not going to be a factor in their postseason run this season. Then they risk either losing him for nothing or matching an offer sheet and either bringing him back unhappy or trying to spin his offer sheet into a sign-and-trade with essentially all their trade leverage dissolved.
Jonathan Kuminga was supposed to be the embodiment of the Warriors' two timelines. Turns out he might not matter much to their present or their future, and for that they only have themselves to blame.