Warriors' Jonathan Kuminga Talks Relationship with Steve Kerr, Improved Play, More

It appears any displeasure Jonathan Kuminga had toward Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr has been settled.

While The Athletic's Shams Charania and Anthony Slater reported in January that Kuminga had "lost faith" in Kerr and that he "no longer believes Kerr will allow him to reach his full potential," Kuminga recently told Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports that the two had a meeting and any hard feelings are water under the bridge.

Kuminga said:

"I just told him how I feel, he told me how he feels. Things he wanted me to do more to get more playing time. After that, just going out there and just enjoying it, enjoying playing for him. He's coaching me harder. Sometimes you don't understand things until it comes to your eyes. Somebody wants great things for you, that's why they coach you harder. I think that's what it was, just him coaching me harder every time because he wants great things from me. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be on this court. I wouldn't have this type of spirit to go out there and play."

Kuminga added that Kerr felt like he "wasn't locked in," so the longtime head coach told him he needed "to do the small things that will help our team."

After Kuminga's meeting with Kerr, he emerged on the court with a fresh hair cut, and his play has been significantly improved since then. In 19 games dating back to Jan. 5, he's averaging 20.1 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.7 assists while shooting 56.7 percent from the floor and 39.0 percent from deep.

The fans and media have linked Kuminga's haircut to his emergence on the floor, but the 2021 first-round pick acknowledged in his interview with Fischer that he didn't get the haircut to signal that he had switched gears, adding that he was already in a certain mindset.

"People think it was me switching gears. It's not, nah. I had to just keep going, keep growing every day. Locking in even more," Kuminga said. "It's not the haircut. I had a mindset that was already set."

In part thanks to Kuminga's success, the Warriors won seven of 10 games entering the All-Star break to improve to 27-26 on the season. If they're going to climb out of the hole they've dug themselves into, the Dubs will need Kuminga to continue competing at a high level.

"There was never a moment where I think that I arrived. As a person, as a human being, there's always growth," Kuminga said. "And I know that for sure. Even Steph always has a growth mindset. There's always growth. And he just looks back and thinks, 'I'm getting better.' That's how I love to think."

The Warriors return from the All-Star break on Thursday against the Los Angeles Lakers, and all eyes will be on Kuminga to see if he can keep the momentum going.