Steve Kerr Reflects on 'Tough' Jonathan Kuminga Era After Warriors' Trade with Hawks
The Jonathan Kuminga era came to an end for the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday.
After a summer of contract disputes and months of back and forth between the two sides, Kuminga was traded to the Atlanta Hawks in return for Kristaps Porziņģis.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr described Kuminga's time with the team as "tough" as he wasn't given the proper space to develop after being drafted.
"I think it was a tough situation for everybody, given how raw he was when he got here and given we were still playing for championships," Kerr told ESPN. "He needed the runway to make more mistakes... For him, it was very tough not being allowed to make those mistakes. For us as a staff, it was tricky trying to develop him while we were trying to win. I think it's as simple as that."
The Warriors drafted Kuminga seventh overall in 2021, and he was quickly thrust into the rotation of a championship team. He played a decent role for Golden State off the bench as the Dubs won their fourth NBA Finals of the Stephen Curry era.
But as Kerr noted, being on a championship team also meant that Kuminga didn't have the chance to emerge as the star player that he thought he could be. His best season in Golden State came in 2023-24, when he put up 16.1 points per game. Even when he was playing at that level, he was regularly coming off the bench, starting 46 of 74 contests.
Things ultimately boiled over this summer when Kuminga was a restricted free agent. He and the Warriors struggled to come to an agreement on a contract, and a sign-and-trade seemed to be the most likely outcome.
That didn't happen, however, and the Warriors signed Kuminga to a two-year, $48.5 million deal. The contract seemed to indicate that Golden State wanted to give Kuminga a bit more time, but the first half of the 2025-26 campaign didn't see the two sides' relationship improve.
Kuminga fell out of the rotation completely between the end of December and the end of January, only coming back in after Jimmy Butler suffered a torn ACL. With Kuminga not getting any playing time, a split seemed inevitable.
Despite everything that happened between the two sides, Kuminga was "shocked" to be sent to the Hawks and thought being traded to Atlanta was "out of left field," According to Dalton Johnson of NBC Sports Bay Area. Johnson added that Kuminga's camp hadn't had talks with the Hawks.
Nonetheless, Kuminga got his wish to be moved out of Golden State, and he'll look to prove that he's capable of being a star player after perhaps being held back by the Warriors.
