Jonathan Kuminga Says There's 'No Bad Blood' with Steve Kerr After Warriors Rumors
Despite being dropped from head coach Steve Kerr's rotation at times last season and going through an offseason of contract negotiations and stalemates with the Golden State Warriors, Jonathan Kuminga is all positive early in the 2025-26 campaign.
"I wouldn't want to be the problem to mess it up," Kuminga told Tim Kawakami of the San Francisco Standard on Tuesday. "I'm growing. I'm in my fifth year now. I know what winning means. And I know what I want to get—winning a championship.
"There is no bad blood or anything like that. I don't think there was ever bad blood. It's just all the narrative, all the talking around outside. But we're good. We're good."
While Kuminga and the Warriors eventually agreed to a two-year, $48.5 million contract ahead of the season, it was fair to wonder what the dynamic would look like heading into the new campaign.
After all, he was an afterthought at times in Kerr's rotation last season after Golden State traded for Jimmy Butler, and the Western Conference team was bringing back much of the same core featuring Butler, Stephen Curry and Draymond Green.
Yet Kerr started Kuminga in each of the team's first five games, and the forward responded by playing well on both sides of the ball by averaging 16.2 points, 7.4 rebounds and 3.4 assists a night.
"He'll be our starter going forward," Kerr said. "He's been fantastic. Last night put him on Ja [Morant]. Tonight, we'll put him on James Harden.
"I think he's ready to take on that role defensively. And what he's doing offensively, the decision-making, the shot-selection. We've hardly seen any of the mid-shot-clock 17-foot pull-ups. We've seen him being much more focused on getting the ball to Jimmy, getting the ball to Steph, attacking the rim. He's really putting a lot of pressure on people.
"The biggest thing is the combination of Jimmy and Draymond and JK wasn't great last year. But because of all the improvements that JK has made, his passing and stuff I just mentioned, it's really clicking."
One of the most notable changes is his efficiency shooting from the outside after hitting just 30.5 percent of his three-point attempts last season. While it is a small sample size, Kuminga has connected on 43.8 percent of his triples to start the 2025-26 campaign.
That outside shooting will be critical if he is going to remain a key factor in the team's attack since opposing defenses focus so much attention on Curry and Butler and give up more open looks to players such as Kuminga on the wing.
Thus far, everything has clicked for the 4-1 Warriors.
And Kuminga is thriving in his new role with a new contract.
