Warriors Rumors: Jonathan Kuminga 'Has Lost Faith' in Steve Kerr After Nuggets Game

Golden State Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga appears to be fed up with head coach Steve Kerr.

Kuminga "has lost faith" in the longtime Dubs head coach and he "no longer believes Kerr will allow him to reach his full potential," sources close to him told The Athletic's Shams Charania and Anthony Slater.

"(Thursday night) was the straw that broke the camel's back," one of the sources said.

Kuminga put together another solid performance in Thursday's 130-127 loss to the Denver Nuggets, notching 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting with four rebounds and four assists in just 19 minutes.

Kerr pulled Kuminga with the Warriors down 85-84 in the third quarter and replaced him with Andrew Wiggins. With Wiggins in the lineup, Golden State mounted a significant lead, so Kerr never went back to Kuminga after pulling him, even with the team struggling to close out the game.

Kerr said of Kuminga and his decision to not reinsert him into the game:

"He was playing great. His normal time to go back in would have been around the five-, six-minute mark (of the fourth). (Andrew Wiggins) was playing great, we were rolling, were up 18, 19, whatever it was. So we just stayed with him. Then at that (later) point, it didn't feel like the right thing to do. He had been sitting for a while. So I stayed with the group that was out there, and obviously, we couldn't close it out."

Kuminga and Wiggins typically don't play well together, so when one is on the court, the other is on the bench. Wiggins, a 10-year veteran, typically sees more playing time, which limits the amount of time Kuminga is on the floor.

Kuminga has spent three seasons with the Warriors and still hasn't emerged as a full-time starter despite being the No. 7 pick in the 2021 draft. He also finds himself on the bench in some of the game's biggest moments.

The 21-year-old is averaging 12.8 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 33 games this season while shooting 50.6 percent from the floor and 28.0 percent from deep.

Slater and Charania reported in May that Kuminga preferred to be traded during the offseason if he wasn't going to have a bigger role with the Warriors in 2023-24. Michael A. Scotto of HoopsHype then reported in June that Kuminga had drawn interest from "a handful of teams" this summer, adding that some believe he could "thrive with an expanded role."

Considering Kuminga appears to be unhappy with his role, maybe he'll finally be traded ahead of the Feb. 8 deadline.